#BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The district attorney who would have prosecuted the case of a man gunned down while jogging through a #SouthGeorgia neighborhood is now responding to claims that her office blocked the suspects from being arrested. District #Attorney for the #Brunswick Judicial Circuit Jackie Johnson recused herself from handling the Arbery case just days after the jogger's Feb. 23 death because one of the suspects in the case, #GregoryMcMichael, used to work as an investigator in her office. But new allegations from a Glynn County commissioner accuse her office of preventing #McMichael and his son Travis from being arrested after the incident. Commissioner J. Peter Murphy told 11Alive over the phone Friday that the Glynn County Police Dept contacted the district attorney's office within a day or two after the shooting. Murphy claims they were told by "representatives of the DA's office" - not the DA herself - not to make arrests in the case. He said he wanted the community to know that a lack of an arrest was not due to inaction on the part of the Glynn County Police Department. However, in a lengthy statement, Johnson's officer refuted those claims, placing blame on the police department. "It is unfortunate that Commissioners Murphy and (Allen) Booker have chosen to make false accusations against District Attorney #JackieJohnson in an attempt to make excuses and ignore the problems at the #GlynnCounty #Police Department, for which they are ultimately responsible," the statement read, adding that the acting police chief indicated that it was a mistake that then-Police Chief John Powell did not immediately call in the #Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The #districtattorney's office added that it does not have arrest powers; it only advises on the law. "If the Glynn County Police Department is unable to make a probable cause determination on its own, why do we have a Police Department?" the statement continued. "Our District Attorney's office’s willingness to assist law enforcement officers on matters of law is now being used by the Glynn County Police Department as an excuse to pass the buck and fail to act." (SWIPE LEFT) https://www.instagram.com/p/CADOuJfAOEC/?igshid=x23y0w7rv3uw
