Behind The #StopCopCity Domestic Terrorism Warrants

“Most of the criminal defense lawyers I have spoken with are indicating that there is no individualized suspicion in any of these warrants and they are extremely weak, some of the weakest we’ve ever seen. Particularly regarding the fact that they’re charging this felony domestic terror law.” — Lauren Regan, executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center

By Ryan Fatica and Chris Schiano, Unicorn Riot

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, in collaboration with several other law enforcement agencies, charged 23 more people with ‘domestic terrorism’ for their alleged involvement in the ongoing effort to stop ‘Cop City’ and to defend the Weelaunee Forest in unincorporated DeKalb County southeast of Atlanta. This brings the total number of ‘Cop City’ opponents charged under the statute to 42.

Warrants are available to read below. Unicorn Riot has currently only been able to obtain 10 of the 23 domestic terrorism warrants stemming from the March 5 arrests. The filings are nearly identical and appear to have been copy/pasted:

Warrant 1 | Warrant 2 | Warrant 3 | Warrant 4 | Warrant 5 | Warrant 6 | Warrant 7 | Warrant 8 | Warrant 9 | Warrant 10

Most of those arrested are currently being held at the DeKalb County Jail after being denied bond by Magistrate Judge Anna Watkins Davis on March 7. Four arrestees, including attorney Thomas Jurgens, have been granted bond. Jurgens was released on the day of the bond hearing, while the other three defendants were granted bond only after spending roughly two weeks in jail. The remaining defendants will likely be held in the jail at least until their bond hearing in DeKalb County Superior Court, which is currently scheduled for 9 a.m. on March 23 before Judge Gregory A. Adams.

Judge A. W. Davis, who denied bond to nearly every defendant, appears to have a family connection to a firm tied into the ‘Cop City’ project leadership, which is possibly a conflict of interest. Publicly available records indicate she is married to a Principal tax attorney at KPMG, an international accounting mega-firm with four representatives on the board of the Atlanta Police Foundation, the private nonprofit rushing to build ‘Cop City’ despite the project’s questionable legal status.