Defendants in Georgia ‘Cop City' case say they are in limbo as trial delays continue
Geography and environmental studies researcher Hannah Kass is worried about her career prospects after she graduates from her Ph.D. program.
The three are among 61 defendants accused by Republican Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr of participating in a yearslong racketeering conspiracy to halt the construction of a police and firefighter training facility just outside Atlanta that critics pejoratively call 'Cop City.'
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Their cases are at a standstill, 20 months after being indicted under Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, or RICO, which is likely the largest criminal racketeering case ever filed against protesters in U.S. history, experts say.
Trial for five of the defendants was supposed to start last year but got bogged down in procedural issues. The judge overseeing the case then moved to another court. A new judge has set a status hearing for Wednesday.
The delays have left people in limbo, facing charges carrying up to 20 years behind bars for what they maintain was legitimate protest, not domestic terrorism. The case also has suppressed a movement that brought together hundreds of activists to protect a wooded patch of land that ultimately was razed for the recently completed $118 million, 85-acre (34-hectare) project.
RELATED STORIES:
Atlanta Public Safety Training Center officially opens after years of opposition
Hundreds gather outside of DeKalb County Jail to protest Atlanta public safety training center
Diary of dead Atlanta Public Safety Center protester now core of new legal filings from Georgia AG
Activists against new training center say city is blocking people's right to vote on project
DeKalb DA withdraws her office from Atlanta Public Safety Training Center cases
Activists face off with city leaders over plans for public safety training center
More than 60 protesters named in RICO indictment connected to Atlanta public safety training center
Officials say the project is sorely needed to replace outdated facilities and boost officers' morale. Opponents say it will be a training ground for a militarized police force and its construction has worsened environmental damage in a poor, majority-Black area.
Protests escalated after the fatal 2023 shooting of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as Tortuguita, who was camping near the site when authorities launched a clearing operation. Officials said they killed Tortuguita, 26, after the activist shot and wounded a trooper from inside a tent.
A family-commissioned autopsy concluded Tortuguita was killed with their hands in the air, but a prosecutor found the officers' use of force was 'objectively reasonable.'
Chris Timmons, a former Georgia prosecutor who has handled numerous RICO cases, said it's understandable such a large case would take a long time to be scheduled. But Timmons said he is surprised prosecutors don't seem to be aggressively pushing for a trial date.
'Cases age like milk, not like wine,' Timmons said. 'The longer we go, memories fade, witnesses become unavailable. If I were in the prosecutors' shoes, I'd want this case tried as soon as possible.'
The attorney general's office did not respond to requests for comment.
Michael Mears, a professor at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School who studies RICO cases, said prosecutors 'boxed themselves in by charging so many people at one time instead of going after the leadership.'
Prosecutors' decision last year to drop money laundering charges against three of the movement's alleged leaders was a sign of the case's weakness. And with the movement having faded from the public consciousness, there is less political appetite for cracking down on the protesters, he said.
'Prosecutors can't just walk away from it, but I think you'll probably see it die a slow death,' Mears said, predicting charges would slowly be dismissed.
That is cold comfort for those who say their lives are on hold.
'I think most of our lives are just completely frozen in one way or another,' said Dupuis, 26, who lives in Massachusetts.
Dupuis was charged with felony intimidation of an officer in 2023 for distributing anti-police flyers near the home of one of the troopers who killed Tortuguita, Dupuis' friend. The trooper called authorities after learning the flyers, which called him a 'murderer,' were placed on his neighbors' mailboxes.
Now banned from Georgia, Dupuis struggles to find the motivation to complete freelance copywriting projects that pay for their $650 rent.
'There's a lot I want to do, a lot of hopes and dreams that I feel like are just kind of stuck,' said Dupuis, who dreams of joining New York City's creative writing scene.
But most of all, Dupuis misses the activist community that once thrived in the South River Forest.
'The charges have ripped me away from my community and the people that I love so much. That's what I've been longing for every single day: to be back with my people,' Dupuis said.
Grim, 51, is tired of waiting and recently filed for a speedy trial. It's unclear whether her motion will be granted, since the speedy trial deadline passed long ago.
'Let's get this over with,' Grim said. 'If you think you have something on me, let's do it — which you don't.'
Grim, who lives in New York City, is one of many 'Stop Cop City' defendants who post on social media for financial support to help pay for food and rent. Health insurance is out of the question, despite chronic pain in her knee from a prior accident.
Besides the couple hundred dollars she gets each month from donors she doesn't know, Grim cobbles together funds through freelance work for activist-oriented causes and is focused on helping her daughter get through college.
'I've never had such a hard time finding employment,' said Grim, who previously held marketing jobs. 'I do really well until the final interview and then everybody goes ghost on me. I think it's because that's when they look my name up.'
Prosecutors say Grim was among a throng of black-clad activists in March 2023 who left a music festival, walked through the woods and overtook the construction site, torching equipment and throwing rocks at retreating officers before returning to blend in with festivalgoers.
Grim said she was in her tent, having woken up from a nap, when officers arrived at the festival and began making arrests. Grim said she began to run before falling due to her knee injury.
'I heard men screaming at me,' Grim said, describing what prompted her to run. 'That's scary as a woman. They didn't say they were police or anything.'
Authorities, however, said Grim ran upon spotting the officers and tried to hide.
After her arrest, Grim lost an email marketing contract with Fordham University, which had been about to give her a full-time position.
'People know me, and when they hear I'm a 'domestic terrorist' they're like, 'What? No! What?!' Grim said. 'I'm not just talking about activist friends saying this — these are friends from parent circles.'
On May 12, 2022, a group of protesters gathered in suburban Atlanta outside the offices of Brasfield & Gorrie, the training center's primary contractor. Some set off fireworks as others broke windows and spray-painted 'Trees not cops,' causing an estimated $30,000 in damage, authorities said.
Kass, 32, attended the protest but said she never vandalized anything and was engaging in a research method called 'participant observation,' which involves immersing oneself in the community being studied.
'I was there as both a scholar and an activist,' said Kass, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies land struggles and teaches environmental social sciences to undergraduates.
Authorities arrested her on charges of felony criminal property damage and felony terroristic threats, saying surveillance video shows she helped set off Roman candles.
Kass underwent a university disciplinary hearing but said the school has supported her. She worries potential employers might not be as understanding.
Like many of her codefendants, Kass rejected prosecutors' plea deal at her RICO arraignment that would have included serving three years in prison.
'I have absolutely nothing to plead guilty for,' she said. 'I should have every right to protest and believe what I want to believe and associate with whatever political tendencies I wish to associate with.'
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
It's Trump's economy now. The latest financial numbers offer some warning signs
WASHINGTON (AP) — For all of President Donald Trump's promises of an economic 'golden age,' a spate of weak indicators this week told a potentially worrisome story as the impacts of his policies are coming into focus. Job gains are dwindling. Inflation is ticking upward. Growth has slowed compared to last year. More than six months into his term, Trump's blitz of tariff hikes and his new tax and spending bill have remodeled America's trading, manufacturing, energy and tax systems to his own liking. He's eager to take credit for any wins that might occur and is hunting for someone else to blame if the financial situation starts to totter. But as of now, this is not the boom the Republican president promised, and his ability to blame his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, for any economic challenges has faded as the world economy hangs on his every word and social media post. When Friday's jobs report turned out to be decidedly bleak, Trump ignored the warnings in the data and fired the head of the agency that produces the monthly jobs figures. 'Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can't be manipulated for political purposes,' Trump said on Truth Social, without offering evidence for his claim. 'The Economy is BOOMING.' It's possible that the disappointing numbers are growing pains from the rapid transformation caused by Trump and that stronger growth will return — or they may be a preview of even more disruption to come. Trump's economic plans are a political gamble Trump's aggressive use of tariffs, executive actions, spending cuts and tax code changes carries significant political risk if he is unable to deliver middle-class prosperity. The effects of his new tariffs are still several months away from rippling through the economy, right as many Trump allies in Congress will be campaigning in the midterm elections. 'Considering how early we are in his term, Trump's had an unusually big impact on the economy already,' said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist at Firehouse Strategies. 'The full inflationary impact of the tariffs won't be felt until 2026. Unfortunately for Republicans, that's also an election year.' The White House portrayed the blitz of trade frameworks leading up to Thursday's tariff announcement as proof of his negotiating prowess. The European Union, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and other nations that the White House declined to name agreed that the U.S. could increase its tariffs on their goods without doing the same to American products. Trump simply set rates on other countries that lacked settlements. The costs of those tariffs — taxes paid on imports to the U.S. — will be most felt by many Americans in the form of higher prices, but to what extent remains uncertain. 'For the White House and their allies, a key part of managing the expectations and politics of the Trump economy is maintaining vigilance when it comes to public perceptions,' said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist. Just 38% of adults approve of Trump's handling of the economy, according to a July poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. That's down from the end of Trump's first term when half of adults approved of his economic leadership. The White House paints a rosier image, seeing the economy emerging from a period of uncertainty after Trump's restructuring and repeating the economic gains seen in his first term before the pandemic struck. 'President Trump is implementing the very same policy mix of deregulation, fairer trade, and pro-growth tax cuts at an even bigger scale – as these policies take effect, the best is yet to come,' White House spokesman Kush Desai said. Recent economic reports suggest trouble ahead The economic numbers over the past week show the difficulties that Trump might face if the numbers continue on their current path: — Friday's jobs report showed that U.S. employers have shed 37,000 manufacturing jobs since Trump's tariff launch in April, undermining prior White House claims of a factory revival. — Net hiring has plummeted over the past three months with job gains of just 73,000 in July, 14,000 in June and 19,000 in May — a combined 258,000 jobs lower than previously indicated. On average last year, the economy added 168,000 jobs a month. — A Thursday inflation report showed that prices have risen 2.6% over the year that ended in June, an increase in the personal consumption expenditures price index from 2.2% in April. Prices of heavily imported items, such as appliances, furniture, and toys and games, jumped from May to June. — On Wednesday, a report on gross domestic product — the broadest measure of the U.S. economy — showed that it grew at an annual rate of less than 1.3% during the first half of the year, down sharply from 2.8% growth last year. 'The economy's just kind of slogging forward,' said Guy Berger, senior fellow at the Burning Glass Institute, which studies employment trends. 'Yes, the unemployment rate's not going up, but we're adding very few jobs. The economy's been growing very slowly. It just looks like a 'meh' economy is continuing.' Trump's Fed attacks could unleash more inflation Trump has sought to pin the blame for any economic troubles on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, saying the Fed should cut its benchmark interest rates even though doing so could generate more inflation. Trump has publicly backed two Fed governors, Christoper Waller and Michelle Bowman, for voting for rate cuts at Wednesday's meeting. But their logic is not what the president wants to hear: They were worried, in part, about a slowing job market. But this is a major economic gamble being undertaken by Trump and those pushing for lower rates under the belief that mortgages will also become more affordable as a result and boost homebuying activity. His tariff policy has changed repeatedly over the last six months, with the latest import tax numbers serving as a substitute for what the president announced in April, which provoked a stock market sell-off. It might not be a simple one-time adjustment as some Fed board members and Trump administration officials argue. Trump didn't listen to the warnings on 'universal' tariffs Of course, Trump can't say no one warned him about the possible consequences of his economic policies. Biden, then the outgoing president, did just that in a speech last December at the Brookings Institution, saying the cost of the tariffs would eventually hit American workers and businesses. 'He seems determined to impose steep, universal tariffs on all imported goods brought into this country on the mistaken belief that foreign countries will bear the cost of those tariffs rather than the American consumer,' Biden said. 'I believe this approach is a major mistake.' Josh Boak And Christopher Rugber, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fox News
42 minutes ago
- Fox News
NY state senator sounds alarm on ‘devastating impact' of Mamdani victory
Fox News Digital spoke to Republican NY State Sen. Bill Weber about his concerns if socialist Zohran Mamdani wins in November
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
After a reference to Trump's impeachments is removed from a history museum, complex questions echo
NEW YORK (AP) — It would seem the most straightforward of notions: A thing takes place, and it goes into the history books or is added to museum exhibits. But whether something even gets remembered and how — particularly when it comes to the history of a country and its leader — is often the furthest thing from simple. The latest example of that came Friday, when the Smithsonian Institution said it had removed a reference to the 2019 and 2021 impeachments of President Donald Trump from a panel in an exhibition about the American presidency. Trump has pressed institutions and agencies under federal oversight, often through the pressure of funding, to focus on the country's achievements and progress and away from things he terms 'divisive.' A Smithsonian spokesperson said the removal of the reference, which had been installed as part of a temporary addition in 2021, came after a review of 'legacy content recently' and the exhibit eventually 'will include all impeachments.' There was no time frame given for when; exhibition renovations can be time- and money-consuming endeavors. In a statement that did not directly address the impeachment references, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said: 'We are fully supportive of updating displays to highlight American greatness.' But is history intended to highlight or to document — to report what happened, or to serve a desired narrative? The answer, as with most things about the past, can be intensely complex. It's part of a larger effort around American stories The Smithsonian's move comes in the wake of Trump administration actions like removing the name of a gay rights activist from a Navy ship, pushing for Republican supporters in Congress to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and getting rid of the leadership at the Kennedy Center. 'Based on what we have been seeing, this is part of a broader effort by the president to influence and shape how history is depicted at museums, national parks, and schools,' said Julian E. Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. 'Not only is he pushing a specific narrative of the United States but, in this case, trying to influence how Americans learn about his own role in history.' It's not a new struggle, in the world generally and the political world particularly. There is power in being able to shape how things are remembered, if they are remembered at all — who was there, who took part, who was responsible, what happened to lead up to that point in history. And the human beings who run things have often extended their authority to the stories told about them. In China, for example, references to the June 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square are forbidden and meticulously regulated by the ruling Communist Party government. In Soviet-era Russia, officials who ran afoul of leaders like Josef Stalin disappeared not only from the government itself but from photographs and history books where they once appeared. Jason Stanley, an expert on authoritarianism, said controlling what and how people learn of their past has long been used as a vital tool to maintain power. Stanley has made his views about the Trump administration clear; he recently left Yale University to join the University of Toronto, citing concerns over the U.S. political situation. 'If they don't control the historical narrative,' he said, 'then they can't create the kind of fake history that props up their politics.' It shows how the presentation of history matters In the United States, presidents and their families have always used their power to shape history and calibrate their own images. Jackie Kennedy insisted on cuts in William Manchester's book on her husband's 1963 assassination, 'The Death of a President.' Ronald Reagan and his wife got a cable TV channel to release a carefully calibrated documentary about him. Those around Franklin D. Roosevelt, including journalists of the era, took pains to mask the impact that paralysis had on his body and his mobility. Trump, though, has taken it to a more intense level — a sitting president encouraging an atmosphere where institutions can feel compelled to choose between him and the truth — whether he calls for it directly or not. 'We are constantly trying to position ourselves in history as citizens, as citizens of the country, citizens of the world,' said Robin Wagner-Pacifici, professor emerita of sociology at the New School for Social Research. 'So part of these exhibits and monuments are also about situating us in time. And without it, it's very hard for us to situate ourselves in history because it seems like we just kind of burst forth from the Earth.' Timothy Naftali, director of the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum from 2007 to 2011, presided over its overhaul to offer a more objective presentation of Watergate — one not beholden to the president's loyalists. In an interview Friday, he said he was 'concerned and disappointed' about the Smithsonian decision. Naftali, now a senior researcher at Columbia University, said museum directors 'should have red lines' and that he considered removing the Trump panel to be one of them. While it might seem inconsequential for someone in power to care about a museum's offerings, Wagner-Pacifici says Trump's outlook on history and his role in it — earlier this year, he said the Smithsonian had 'come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology' — shows how important those matters are to people in authority. 'You might say about that person, whoever that person is, their power is so immense and their legitimacy is so stable and so sort of monumental that why would they bother with things like this ... why would they bother to waste their energy and effort on that?' Wagner-Pacifici said. Her conclusion: 'The legitimacy of those in power has to be reconstituted constantly. They can never rest on their laurels.' ___
