Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has filed an appeal challenging the dismissal of racketeering charges against 61 Stop Cop City protestors.
The appeal, filed on Jan. 20, is in response to the dismissal of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) charges by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer on Dec. 30, 2025.
The racketeering charges were part of an indictment filed by Carr in August 2023 against advocates opposed to the Atlanta Police Training Facility, known as Cop City. Farmer ruled that Carr failed to obtain the constitutionally required authority from Governor Brian Kemp to file the indictment.
“Judge Farmer’s ruling simply confirmed what we all knew from the start, that the State’s prosecution against these 61 individuals was illegitimate,” said Josh Lingsch, an attorney for one of the defendants. “Appealing this decision is emblematic of the same flawed decision making and missteps by the State that have plagued this case since it was indicted in 2023. While there is confidence that Judge Farmer’s decision was correct and will be upheld on appeal, the State’s decision to appeal it continues to unfairly leave the lives of the 61 defendants in this case in limbo.”
Advocates with Fire Ant Movement Defense say that the 61 defendants, who were arrested on different dates from 2022 to 2023 across Georgia, have experienced job losses, housing issues, career disruptions and travel restrictions due to the felony charges.
According to the organization, over 170 people have been arrested during Stop Cop City protests. Local activist and musician Samuel Tunick was arrested by the Department of Homeland Security and FBI for destruction of evidence as part of what advocates called the “ongoing harassment of local activists.” In January 2023, protestor Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as Tortuguita, was killed by Georgia state troopers while protesting the facility.
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“This case was always about the State’s desire to crush a legitimate movement against the construction of Cop City,” said Chris Caraway, one of the defense lawyers in the RICO and part of the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. “The process was always meant to be the punishment, with the threat of years behind bars as a means of intimidating protest and resistance to a so-called training center that promises further oppression and the militarized policing of Atlanta residents.”
Construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, the $118 million 85-acre police training facility in the South River Forest, was recently completed. Supporters of the project, such as Mayor Andre Dickens, argue that the investment in law enforcement was necessary to combat crime in the city.
Dickens celebrated the investment during the inauguration of his second term, citing the fact that Atlanta reported fewer than 100 homicides in 2025 for the first time since 2018. However, opposition to the project was more widespread than support for Dickens; over 116,000 people signed a 2023 petition to put Cop City to a direct vote – compared to the 51,000 people who voted for Dickens – but local officials did not verify the signatures.