Georgia senators raise First Amendment concerns around arrests of Atlanta forest-defender bail fund organizers

Both of Georgia’s Democratic senators expressed concerns Sunday over the arrest of three organizers of a bail fund for protesters against a planned police training facility in the city’s forest.

Last week, Atlanta police and Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents charged the three with charity fraud and money laundering in connection with the bail fund supporting demonstrations against construction of the so-called Cop City facility. Activists oppose what they say will lead to further militarization of local police and the razing of parts of the city’s forest cover. Atlanta has the most tree cover of any major U.S. city.

The three people arrested are Marlon Kautz, Savannah Patterson and Adele MacLean.

Prosecutors have claimed the defendants defrauded donors by using donations to support the organization Defend the Atlanta Forest, and they cited a $48,000 transfer to another organization that later transferred it back as evidence of money laundering.

Sens. Raphael Warnock (D) and Jon Ossoff (D), however, called the arrests a troubling indication of a broader free-speech crackdown in connection with the forest protests.

“While we still don’t have all the details, as a pastor who has long been engaged in justice work, I am concerned by what we know about last Wednesday’s show of force against the organizers of an Atlanta bail fund, & the questions it raises,” Warnock tweeted Sunday.

“While the facts of the case are not yet fully known, the prosecution announced last week of Georgians reputedly engaged in legal aid activities demands scrutiny,” Ossoff tweeted. “It is imperative that the response of government to the violent few not intimidate or infringe on the Constitutional rights of those engaged in nonviolent protest and civil disobedience.”

Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has called the bail fund organizers “criminals [who] facilitated and encouraged domestic terrorism,” saying in a statement Wednesday “we will track down every member of a criminal organization, from violent foot soldiers to their uncaring leaders.”

Nineteen protesters against the facility have been charged under the state domestic terrorism statute. In 2017, that statute was expanded from acts intended to harm or kill at least 10 people to also encompass acts meant to “alter, change, or coerce the policy of the government” by “intimidation or coercion.”

Earlier in 2023, Georgia state police fatally shot an anarchist environmental activist camped in the forest. Police officials have said the activist opened fire on them, but an incident report obtained by The Hill indicates officers fired pepper balls through the tent flap, and body camera footage from after the incident shows an officer asking police if they “f—ed [your] own officer up.” GBI officials have told The Hill the footage depicts officers speculating and is not proof of the claims in the video.