ATLANTA — Georgia prosecutors on Tuesday dropped all 15 money laundering charges brought against three Atlanta organizers accused of misusing bail funds to help violent protests against a proposed police and fire training center.
Atlanta Solidarity Fund leaders Marlon Kautz, Adele MacLean and Savannah Patterson still face racketeering charges, along with 58 others indicted last year following a years-long investigation into the “Stop Cop City” movement. Prosecutors described a decentralization movement led by “militant anarchists” who bent on radical supporters and stopped the construction of the facility by any means, including arson.
At the center of the case is the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which provides bail money and helps find lawyers for detained protesters. Prosecutors say the three defendants funneled money that was supposed to be for charitable purposes and instead used it to reimburse protesters who spent months in South River Forest, near the facility’s site in DeKalb County, outside Atlanta.
The transactions resulting in 15 counts of money laundering included $93.04 in “camping supplies” and $12.52 in “forest kitchen materials,” according to the indictment.
But as a motion hearing was set to begin Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General John Fowler told Fulton County Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams that he would file documents to dismiss the 15 counts. A spokesman for Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr did not say why the money laundering charges were dropped but confirmed that the racketeering charges remained.
Kristen Novay, attorney for Patterson, applauded the decision.
“All the indictments are flawed, but with that amount, I think it’s a wise move for an experienced prosecutor to say, ‘This is not worth it,'” Novay told the Associated Press. “Sometimes the hardest call as a prosecutor is not to ask for anything.”
Protesters and civil rights organizations have condemned the racketeering charges and charged Carr, a Republican, with aggravated assault charges for trying to silence the movement that has brought environmental and anti-police protesters across the country. Opponents say the 85-acre, $110-million facility will further militarize police and destroy neighborhoods in poor, majority-Black neighborhoods.
Despite various attacks on the site and contractors’ equipment over the past few years, construction on the training center has continued, and officials said they are planning to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony in December. Supporters say the city needs to replace outdated facilities and it’s important to better train officers to avoid improper use of force.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of signed petitions asking voters to consider the project have spent the past 12 months sitting in boxes while officials await a court decision on whether nonresidents are allowed to collect signatures. City officials hope the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will kill the petition drive because it’s illegal under state law or because organizers missed the original deadline. The court, which heard arguments in December, has yet to issue its decision.
Anger over the stalled referendum continued Monday, when dozens of protesters testified in front of the Atlanta City Council and later threw hundreds of ping-pong balls around the room as they chanted, “You’ve dropped the ball.”
Efforts to prosecute those responsible for the violent “Stop Cop City” protests have hit several stumbling blocks. Last year, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston, a Democrat, announced she would withdraw from a criminal case related to the protests, citing her disagreement with Carr. And in July, Judge Esmond Adams castigated the prosecutor for committing “gross negligence” for mishandling confidential email conversations that Kautz, MacLean and Patterson had with their lawyers, although Esmond Adams denied the defense attorney’s motion to dismiss the case on that basis.
