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Georgia officials said they would drop money laundering charges against bail fund organizers accused of misusing funds to support violent protests against a police training center in an Atlanta-area forest that critics have dubbed “Cop City.”
Deputy Attorney General John Fowler told a Fulton County court he would seek to dismiss 15 counts against Atlanta Solidarity Fund leaders Marlon Kautz, Adele MacLean and Savannah Patterson.
They still faced racketeering charges alongside 58 others tied to the movement.
Supporters celebrated the decision, saying it represented larger flaws in the state’s case, which has been condemned by civil rights groups as an attempt to silence protest activity.
“It’s a really exciting development in the sense that the state has long positioned the Atlanta Solidarity Fund as sort of the center of this fabricated criminal enterprise,” Micah Herskind, a Stop Cop City activist, told The Independent.
“We’ve said all along that these charges are bogus. They’re not rooted in evidence. They are a political move to repress a social movement and target people personally for their political opposition to Cop City.”
Kristen Novay, an attorney for Patterson, told The Associated Press the whole indictment is “defective.”
“I think it is a wise move for a seasoned prosecutor to say, ‘This isn’t worth it,’” she said. “Sometimes the hardest call as a prosecutor is to not go for something.”
The Independent has contacted the Atlanta Solidarity Fund for comment.
“We chose not to proceed on the Money Laundering charges but the Racketeering charges remain,” said Kara Murray communications director at the Office of the Attorney General.
The trio of organizers were arrested in May 2023 and charged with charity fraud and money laundering as part of the larger Cop City RICO case.
Prosecutors accused the three of funneling money meant for charitable causes to reimburse protesters camping out near the future site of the training center in DeKalb County, outside of Atlanta.
They cited transactions including $93.04 for “camping supplies” and $12.52 for “forest kitchen materials,” according to the AP.
Officials have also claimed some of the charitable funds ultimately went to violent acts.
“On its face, it appears to be laudable, it appears to be lawful,” Fowler previously said in court, claiming the organizers “harbor extremist anti-government and anti-establishment views and not all of the money goes to what they say that it goes to.”
Don Samuel, an attorney for the activists, has denied their connection to any illegal action.
“The fact that what you do happens to help some people do bad things doesn’t mean that you’re guilty of joining in a conspiracy with them,” he told Fox 5 Atlanta in July. “It doesn’t mean that the action that you’ve taken, even if it facilitates misconduct, is something that renders you culpable.”
The Atlanta City Council approved the multi-million dollar training center project in 2021, which city officials described as a crucial development to maintain training standards and morale.
As The Independent reported, community members and activists criticized the plan, arguing it would damage a rare patch of undeveloped forest in the Atlanta metro area and fuel violent policing against communities of color.
Protester Manuel “Tortuguita” Esteban Paez Teran was shot and killed in January of 2023 during a state police clear-out operation while camping out in the forest in protest of “Cop City.”
A special prosecutor determined in October of that year that the officers involved in the shooting wouldn’t face charges and used reasonable force. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation claimed the activist fired on officers after refused to leave a tent.
Police have released body camera footage of officers near the site of the shooting, but it doesn’t capture the moment of the killing itself.
Family members and activists have questioned the official narrative of the shooting, describing Tortuguita as a peaceful person who wouldn’t start a firefight with police. An autopsy found no gunpowder residue on the activist’s hands, the presence of which can show someone recently fired a gun.
In August of 2023, 61 people, including the Atlanta Solidarity Fund organizers, were indicted under Georgia’s anti-racketeering RICO law, typically used to prosecute gangs and organized crime groups.
In the course of the prosecution, state officials were chided for “gross negligence” for mishandling and widely sharing confidential emails belonging to the three Solidarity Fund organizers where they discussed legal strategy and other highly sensitive issues.
On Monday, activists marked one year since a petition was filed with the city to vote on the future of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center by tossing ping-pong balls at city council members and chanting, “You dropped the ball!”
Federal litigation over the validity of the petition has stalled the ballot effort, and the case is currently in appeals court awaiting a decision.
In August, a fire broke out at the safety center construction site which police blamed on arsonists.
Officials say a ribbon cutting for the site is planned for December.
On Monday, the Atlanta Police Department released a video of scores of emergency vehicles driving a course on a flat concrete “skills pad” on the site of the training center.
