The decision by prosecutors to bring domestic terrorism charges against opponents of a police training center outside Atlanta is drawing criticism, with some legal experts saying it is a potentially dangerous overreach that could be seen as politically motivated.
More than a dozen people have been charged with domestic terrorism in connection with the protests, including Seven people after a January 18 standoff with police trying to clear the proposed site of the center, dubbed «Cop City» by critics.
Police fatally shot a man in the standoff after he opened fire and wounded a state trooper, authorities said. In the protests that followed the murder and police raids, six people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism.
In December, the same charges were filed against five people after the police intervened to clear the barricades and confront the protesters.
Critics of domestic terrorism laws, including some civil rights groups, oppose them «because of the risk of politicization, because the government can use them against politically disadvantaged groups,» said Patrick Keenan, a law professor at the University of Washington. Illinois. .
A 2017 Georgia law defines domestic terrorism as a felony intended to kill or harm people; “disable or destroy critical infrastructure, a state or government facility, or a public transportation system”; “intimidate the civilian population or any of its political subdivisions”; and to change or coerce state policy or affect government conduct «through the use of destructive devices, assassination, or kidnapping.» The conviction carries a maximum penalty of 35 years in prison.
The charges against the protesters include breaking and entering, resisting arrest, throwing stones and glass bottles, and damaging property, including setting fire to a police car. Authorities also said they found «explosive devices, gasoline and road flares» in an area of the woods where protesters had makeshift tree houses.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, called the protesters «militant activists» and said «we will bring the full force of state and local law enforcement against those who attempt to achieve a radical agenda through violent means.»
Despite “domestic terrorism” is defined in the Patriot Act of 2001there is no specific federal crime that covers acts of terrorism within the US that are not connected to Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, other officially designated international terrorist groups, or their sympathizers, although the US saying in recent years that white supremacist and militia groups are one of the main threats of domestic terrorism.
Last year’s mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, fits into that category, said Javed Ali, an associate professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
The 19-year-old white supremacist who shot and killed 10 black people last May was the first person in New York state to be convicted of hate-motivated domestic terrorism; he also pleaded guilty to first degree murder. The terrorism charge carries an automatic sentence of life in prison.
But in several states, including Georgia, domestic terrorism laws include a wide range of crimes in addition to hate crimes.
Because the Georgia statute «targets conduct that is intended to intimidate the government or affect the government in any way,» said Keenan, the law professor, it is «especially vulnerable to politicized use.»
Keenan said he thinks labeling protesters domestic terrorism could have «some really dangerous effects.»
“I don’t think it’s primarily the protesters who are the biggest threats from domestic terrorism. Domestic terrorism threats are coming from other places, so using this statute in a very public and prominent way to try to crush this protest seems to me like a kind of politicized use of the law that worried a lot of people,” he said.
Keenan said that while he doesn’t condone violence or attacks on law enforcement, he believes there are other ways to address those things under Georgia law that don’t include a domestic terrorism charge.
“As someone who has handled capital murder cases in Georgia, I can tell you that Georgia law has many ways to deal with violence against law enforcement or against anyone,” he said. «So this domestic terrorism statute is unnecessary and can lead to this politicized use that I think does no one any good.»
Joshua Schiffer, an attorney representing one of the protesters, said he believes that as the investigation progresses, «the charges will not be substantiated,» calling them «particularly troubling» given Georgia’s rich history of civil rights and civil disobedience. .
“The state’s use of such an aggressive statute indicates the state’s position on protesters and how the state intends to deal with protesters,” he said. “This state action is meant to shock and cool this protest issue nationwide.”
Ali, a former top US government counterterrorism official, said such cases highlight what could be a new development at the state and local level where authorities will begin bringing more domestic terrorism charges.
He said prosecutors generally file such charges when they believe there is enough evidence to support them, «because why would you file a charge for something that is quite unusual and controversial if you are going to lose the case in court?»
In the months leading up to the most recent arrests, critics have raised environmental concerns about the construction of a $90 million police training center on 85 acres outside Atlanta. Opponents say it would devastate the forest and also oppose making such a large investment in policing after the 2020 nationwide protests against police violence and systemic racism following the killing of George Floyd.
Officials have defended the center, saying the forested land was the only viable location and law enforcement needs modern training facilities.
On Thursday, Kemp declared a state of emergency in Georgia, the result, he said, of «unlawful assembly, violence, open threats of violence, disturbance of the peace and tranquility of this state, and existing danger to persons and property.» The order gives Kemp the ability to call in the Georgia National Guard.
Marlon Kautz, an activist with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which provides resources to people arrested during protests, said the group was «extremely alarmed by the use of this domestic terrorism statute.»
“It is clear that it is being used in too broad a way to maliciously prosecute people,” he said.
The Atlanta Solidarity Fund said the state of Georgia was trying to «set an alarming precedent» with the charges.
«If successful, protesters across the country could face charges of ‘domestic terrorism’ similar to chilling speeches,» he said in a statement this week. “We must vigorously reject this extreme level of repression in the here and now, before it becomes the norm for activists of all movements.”