Fifty-seven of the 61 people indicted on racketeering charges related to protests of the Atlanta public safety training center – dubbed “Cop City” by its opponents – appeared in court Monday morning.
According to the Associated Press (via GPB News), the protesters, who appeared in small groups before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams, all waived arraignment.
The four defendants who didn’t appear were absent for a number of reasons: One was believed to be in France, while another was in federal immigration custody. Another of the indicted, a foreign national, was refused entry into the United States, and the fourth just didn’t show up.
Most of the people who appeared had not surrendered at the Fulton County Jail to be booked on the charges. Judge Adams gave them until 10 a.m. on Tuesday to turn themselves in or warrants for their arrests would be issued and bonds rescinded, according to the AP.
The judge said a plea hearing would be held by the end of June 2024 and told the defendants they needed to reach plea agreements with prosecutors before that date.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr obtained indictments against the 61 in August, using the state’s anti-racketeering law to target the protesters who he characterized as “militant anarchists.”
Meanwhile, several hundred demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse waving signs and chanting that “Cop City will never be built.”
However, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said last month that the training center, located on city-owned property in South DeKalb County, was already 40% complete, and vertical construction would begin by January.
A legal battle over the petition process seeking to put the training center to a public vote continues to move forward. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled Dec. 14 to hear oral arguments in the city of Atlanta’s challenge of a federal judge’s ruling to allow DeKalb County residents and others not living in the city to collect signatures as part of the Vote to Stop Cop City Coalition referendum petition drive.
Dyana Bagby contributed to this report.
