Attorney asks charges dismissal after AG fails to arrange training center site visit

Attorneys for one of the defendants in the ongoing RICO case against protesters of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center are seeking for some of the charges to be dismissed and evidence excluded after the Attorney General’s Office has failed to secure a site visit.

Attorney Xavier Torres de Janon filed a motion Monday, on behalf of James Marsicano, asking Judge Kimberly Adams to dismiss all charges in the indictment related to the forest, as well as exclude all forest-related evidence.

In the motion, Torres de Janon argues that the AG’s office, who is prosecuting the case, has acted in bad faith by allowing the construction of the training center to continue, resulting in the destruction of evidence, while not allowing attorneys to visit the site.

During a hearing in May, Judge Adams told lead prosecutor John Fowler to work with the city to arrange a visit for defense attorneys to the training center site by June. In his motion, Torres de Janon argued that Fowler had failed to secure a visit by the deadline set by Adams.

“June has passed, and the State failed to organize a site visit for the defense. Meanwhile, the destruction of the forest, the scene of the alleged crime, continues undeterred,” Torres de Janon wrote in the motion.

In the May hearing, Fowler told Adams the city of Atlanta has denied request visits, but Adams told Fowler he needed to figure it out and even suggested that she could issue an order if needed, considering jurors, once trial begins, might need to visit the site as well.

“I’m telling you that the city of Atlanta doesn’t get to say no, so whoever I need to tell that, I’m prepared to tell them,” Adams told Fowler. “If they want to proceed with prosecution, they don’t have an option to not make the site available for a visit.”

The AG’s office did not respond to a request for comment regarding the site visit requests.

The motion states that a lot of the overt acts in the indictment and a significant amount of the state’s evidence involve the area where the training center is being built.

“The state intends to utilize this evidence as circumstantial evidence against defendant and their co-defendants, but the defense has been unable to personally ascertain the exact origin of these items in the forest,” Torres de Janon wrote in the motion.

The motion seeks to dismiss at least 75 overt acts in the indictment under the RICO charges all of the 61 defendants named are charged with. In the motion, Torres de Janon said they reached out to Fowler shortly after the May hearing clarifying that the site visit should include the area where the training center is being built and where the Shadowbox Studios are being built nearby.

Torres de Janon said Fowler never replied. On June 3, Fowler contacted all defense counsel on the topic of the site visit and requested dates in June that would not work for them. After responding with the dates, he said Fowler never responded.

A separate motion was filed last month seeking to disqualify the Attorney General’s Office from prosecuting the RICO case, alleging that attorney-client privileged information was accessed and distributed.

Some of the defendants face additional charges of domestic terrorism, arson and money laundering. Most are not from Georgia.

The Fulton County indictment focuses on Defend the Atlanta Forest, an Atlanta-based group prosecutors allege is an “anti-government, anti-police, and anti-corporate extremist organization.”

The indictment claims the group’s purpose is to occupy parts or all of the 381 forested acres in DeKalb County owned by the city of Atlanta and leased to the Atlanta Police Foundation with the goal of halting training center construction.

Adams said she expects most of the defendants to face trial this year, in groups of five in alphabetical order. It’s unclear how long the proceedings could last.

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