FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 27, 2026
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr Indicts Three #StopCopCity Activists in Cobb County for Arrests That Occurred Four Years Ago
Defendants and Their Supporters Say Carr Is Only Attempting to Revive His Failed Campaign for Governor and Vow to Fight the New Charges
ATLANTA, GA — In a surprise move, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr indicted three #StopCopCity activists on Thursday for a protest that took place nearly four years ago, on May 12, 2022. Supporters of the defendants argue that Carr is using these old arrests as a way to revive his failing campaign bid for governor of Georgia. Carr has filed State charges against Hannah Kass, Katie Kloth, and Tyler Norman in Cobb County, including two counts of felony property damage and one count of arson of lands. Arraignments have not been scheduled yet.
In 2022, Kass, Kloth, Norman, and scores of others were protesting in Smyrna, Georgia, at the headquarters of Brasfield and Gorrie, which served as the general contractor for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, commonly known as “Cop City.” The Attorney General will now be compelled to provide discovery in the case, but despite the length of time his office has had to investigate the four-year-old incident, Carr has not yet provided any evidence of wrongdoing. The three defendants stand defiant and are vowing to fight these new charges.
“All of our movement’s attempts to contest the Cop City project have been silenced through state violence, bogus charges, voter suppression tactics, and doxxing, among other forms of intimidation,” said Hannah Kass, one of the activists charged last week. “This is just a continuation of that pattern, and I remain steadfast in my resolve to fight these charges—the state can’t scare me into abandoning my integrity.”
The lawyer for Kass, Amith Gupta, said in response to Thursday’s indictment, “Dr. Kass is not responsible for what is alleged in these baseless, politically-motivated charges and did nothing more than attend a protest.”
The charges come just three weeks before the four-year statute of limitations expires, and just a few weeks after twelve Stop Cop City defendants filed motions in March to dismiss their three-year-old unindicted domestic terrorism charges in Dekalb County. The twelve defendants are currently awaiting a decision from Dekalb County Superior Court Judge David B. Irwin. In a separate case, a defendant arrested in March 2023 had their unindicted domestic terrorism charge dismissed in August 2025.
All of the defendants indicted last week and those currently moving to dismiss their unindicted domestic terrorism charges are part of a group of 61 Stop Cop City activists charged under the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act in August 2023. The sweeping RICO charges were dismissed in December, and that decision was appealed by Attorney General Carr in January.
Notably, the Cobb County District Attorney is absent from this latest indictment, pointing to the political nature of the charges. “The Georgia Attorney General is playing a political game of chess with these Stop Cop City cases,” said Xavier T. de Janon from the People’s Law Collective and a lawyer who has challenged unindicted domestic terrorism charges for several Stop Cop City defendants. “Mr. Chris Carr’s RICO cases were dismissed, he decided to appeal them, and yet now he’s choosing to prosecute these questionable Cobb County cases from four years ago during his uphill race for governor.”
The 61 RICO defendants, who were arrested on different dates from 2020 to 2023 at various locations across Georgia, have had their lives upended as a result of the charges. Many defendants have experienced job losses, housing issues, career disruptions, and travel restrictions, in addition to the stress and anxiety that comes from the threat of years in prison hanging over their heads.
Over 170 people have been arrested so far during protests against Cop City. The facility was completed last year despite mass opposition from Atlanta residents, including a multi-year campaign with a wide range of tactics by 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, but local officials refused to verify the signatures.
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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.
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