Nearly Two Years After Being Indicted on Racketeering Charges in Georgia, the First of 61 Stop Cop City Defendants is Set to Start Trial Today

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 7, 2025

Nearly Two Years After Being Indicted on Racketeering Charges in Georgia, First of 61 Stop Cop City Defendants is Set to Start Trial Today

Repeated Evidentiary Violations, Dismissals of Charges, and More Than 200 Unresolved Motions Have Plagued the State’s Efforts to Criminalize a Political Movement

ATLANTA, GA – Nearly two years after being indicted on State racketeering charges in Georgia, the first of 61 Stop Cop City defendants charged with RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) will go to trial today, Monday, July 7 at 9 am in Fulton County Superior Court. A press conference will also be held today after the trial adjourns.

Ayla King filed for a speedy trial in October 2023, but their case has been held up on appeal while higher courts considered whether Georgia’s speedy trial statute had been violated and whether King’s rights had been denied. Multiple pretrial motions and the possibility of additional motions being filed this morning could delay the start of the trial, but according to Fulton County Judge Kevin Farmer, jury selection will begin today.

    What: First of 61 Stop Cop City RICO trials for Ayla King and press conference
    When: Monday, July 7, 2025: Trial at 9am; Press conference at 4pm or when trial adjourns
    Where: Fulton County Superior Court, 185 Central Ave SW, Courtroom 4D

“Despite facing two decades in prison—nearly as long as they’ve been alive—Ayla King has bravely pushed for a speedy trial, and will now, after two years, finally see their day in court,” said local community member Evan Grace. Supporters of King argue that the charges are politically motivated. “We know these charges are meant to bully us into silence, but the movement to Stop Cop City has always taken the courageous path, the one in righteous opposition to the racist, classist, violent system of police and prisons,” continued Grace. “King, all the Stop Cop City defendants, and everyone coming out to show support during this trial will prove that the scare tactics they throw at us will never stop us from fighting back.”

King was detained with 34 others on March 5, 2023 at a music festival in the South River (Weelaunee) Forest. Twenty-three, including King, were arrested on state domestic terrorism charges. King was held in jail for more than two weeks and eventually indicted on August 29, 2023, and charged with RICO. A total of 61 people arrested at different locations and on different dates were indicted in a case that alleges a sweeping conspiracy based entirely on their political views. Everyone, including King, pled not guilty to RICO charges.

Judge Farmer held his first hearing as the new presiding judge in May. Under the previous judge, Kimberly Adams, multiple discovery deadlines were defied by the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, and money laundering charges were dismissed against three organizers with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, key defendants in the State’s RICO case. Judge Farmer has yet to rule on more than 200 motions and claims of evidentiary violations he inherited from Judge Adams.

In October, the Georgia Court of Appeals denied King’s motion to dismiss based on a violation of their speedy trial rights, but the three judge panel ruled that Judge Adams should not have excluded media from the trial. Adams previously blocked media outlets from covering parts of jury selection in King’s case, compelling The Atlanta Journal Constitution and WSB-TV to file an amicus ‘friend of the court’ brief, opposing closure of the courtroom to media “without holding a hearing, without issuing a written order, and without considering less extreme alternatives.” In December 2023, Adams imposed a gag order on all trial parties, preventing them from publicly discussing King’s case.

Over 170 people have been arrested so far during protests against the police training facility in unincorporated Atlanta known as “Cop City.” The facility was completed this year despite mass opposition from Atlanta residents, including a multi-year campaign with a wide range of tactics from environmentalists, abolitionists, students, teachers, anarchists, Indigenous activists, faith leaders and others. A 2023 ballot initiative petition effort to put Cop City to a direct vote by Atlanta residents collected over 116,000 signatures, more than double the votes that Mayor Andre Dickens received in 2021. Local officials have refused to verify the signatures and the initiative remains stalled in court.

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For more information on the sweeping criminal cases, and ways to support the defendants and the movement to Stop Cop City, go to: weelauneethefree.org and FireAntMovementDefense.org.