Georgia attorney general requests DOJ investigation into the handling of the Ahmaud Arbery case

CNN — Georgia’s attorney general has requested that the US Department of Justice conduct an investigation into the handling of the Ahmaud Arbery case. “We are committed to a complete and transparent review of how the Ahmaud Arbery case was handled from the outset,” Attorney General Chris Carr said in a news release. A second prosecutor, Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill, recused himself because his son worked in the Brunswick Judicial Circuit DA’s office and once worked with Gregory McMichael in a prior prosecution of Arbery, he wrote in a letter to Carr’s office April 7. Carr’s office said Sunday that at the time Barnhill was appointed to the case, neither his office nor the Brunswick DA informed the state attorney general that Barnhill “had already taken a role in the case in reviewing evidence and advising the Glynn County Police Department regarding whether to make arrests in the case.” When Barnhill wrote to the attorney general’s office April 7 to recuse himself, Barnhill said he and Johnson, the Brunswick district attorney, had learned several weeks earlier about the connection between Barnhill’s son and McMichael. “This video confirms that Mr. Arbery’s murder was not justified and the actions of the men who pursued him and ambushed him were unjustified.” “We reiterate,” the statement added, “Ahmaud Arbery did not take part in ANY felony, had no illegal substances in his system, was not armed yet was shot three times with a shotgun at close range.” ‘This was a lynching’ In the video that appeared to show the deadly confrontation, Arbery is seen jogging along a road outside Brunswick, Georgia – as he often did, according to those who knew the former high school football player – when he’s met by two men in a pickup truck.