This week, the Georgia Attorney General’s Office dropped some of the more frivolous charges in the “Stop Cop City” case.
As Reason has previously reported, state prosecutors have indicted more than 60 people on racketeering charges related to the protests against the construction of a police training facility near Atlanta; opponents call the project “Cop City” and march under the banner “Stop Cop City.” The majority of those indicted were not alleged to have committed any crimes more severe than misdemeanor trespassing.
Five defendants were additionally charged with arson and domestic terrorism. Prosecutors also singled out three others—Marlon Kautz, Adele MacLean, and Savannah Patterson, who operate the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF), a nonprofit bail fund used by Stop Cop City protesters—with 15 counts each of money laundering.
In a motion filed September 17, Deputy Attorney General John Fowler asked that “the Court enter an order of Nolle Prosequi on Counts 4-18” of the indictment—the 15 money laundering charges. Nolle prosequi is the process by which a prosecutor withdraws all or part of a criminal complaint or a plaintiff withdraws a lawsuit.
“Caselaw exists that supports the position of both the Defendants and the State,” Fowler wrote, “but given potential vagueness on Counts 4-18, the State chooses to not proceed on these counts at this time. However, the State reserves the right to re-present these charges to a Grand Jury.” A representative of the state attorney general’s office did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams granted the motion the same day. All three remain under indictment for racketeering, along with 58 other defendants.
“This is a recognition of what we, police, and prosecutors have known for a long time: we run a legitimate nonprofit, not a money laundering operation, and there has never been any evidence otherwise,” Kautz said in a statement provided to Reason.
The case has been questionable from the start: Atlanta police raided the ASF headquarters in May 2023 and arrested Kautz, MacLean, and Patterson. The indictment issued later that year charged each of them with 15 counts of money laundering. Each count is tied to a predicate act, alleging that the defendants used bail fund money in service of protesting Cop City: In one example, prosecutors allege that the defendants “transferr[ed] $93.04” to another party “for camping supplies, contrary to the laws of this State, the good order, peace, and dignity thereof.” For this—and 14 other similar examples—the state charged the defendants with an offense that carries maximum penalties of a $500,000 fine and five years in prison.
“What’s shocking is that the authorities have gotten this far before having to admit they have no case,” MacLean said in the statement provided to Reason. “They conducted extensive invasive surveillance against us and other organizers, authorized a militarized SWAT raid on our home, jailed us, closed ASF’s bank accounts and cut us off from donors—all under the false pretense that we were laundering money.”
Earlier this year, the defendants accused police and prosecutors of mishandling evidence after the May 2023 raid, when privileged emails with attorneys were submitted to investigators and to the court.
“To suggest that you did not contemplate the possibility that there might be communication between…any of these defendants and their lawyer is incredible to me,” said Adams, the judge hearing the case. “I simply don’t believe that.”
The defendants moved to remove the attorney general’s office from the case and dismiss the charges; Adams denied the motion but noted that “the Court is extremely troubled by the State’s gross negligence when handling and disclosing potentially privileged communications” and “the State is strongly admonished that future misconduct will result in additional sanctions as determined appropriate.”
