Georgia Judge Dismisses Racketeering Charges Against 'Cop City' Activists
Source: New York Times
Dec. 31, 2025 Updated 4:22 p.m. ET
A Georgia judge dismissed racketeering charges on Tuesday against dozens of activists who had fought the construction of a police and fire training center outside of Atlanta that became known as “Cop City,” dealing a major setback to state officials who had pursued an unusually aggressive case against the protesters. The plan to transform a spread of forest on the outskirts of the city had drawn activists from across the country, who camped in the trees and repeatedly clashed with law enforcement officers for nearly two years.
After sweeping them from the woods, Georgia officials argued that the demonstrators were part of a criminal enterprise bent on sowing violence and disorder, and in 2023 the state attorney general charged 61 activists with racketeering. The case became one of the largest of its kind brought against protesters.
In his ruling on Tuesday, Judge Kevin M. Farmer of Superior Court of Fulton County cited what was essentially a technical misstep by the attorney general’s office as justification for tossing the charges against the protesters named in the racketeering indictment. Prosecutors and the activists had been waiting for Judge Farmer’s order for months, after he signaled his intentions to dismiss the charges during a hearing in September.
The judge found that state prosecutors had failed to get Gov. Brian Kemp’s permission to move forward with a case that would otherwise be within the remit of a local district attorney. (Mr. Kemp, a Republican and a persistent critic of the activists, would have likely signed off.)
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/us/cop-city-activists-racketeering-charges.html
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