Judge Granted Bond For 3 Activists Who Are Involved In Protesting Atlanta ‘Cop City’ Project

On Friday, a judge granted a bond for three activists who are involved in supporting the protest against a planned police and fire training center in Atlanta that rivals have derisively dubbed “Cop City.”

Judge Granted Bond For 3 Activists Who Are Involved In Protesting Atlanta ‘Cop City’ Project (PHOTO: ABC News)

Cop City, 3 Activists

On Wednesday, three activists were arrested and identified as Adele MacLean, 42 years old, Marlon Scott Kautz 39 years old, and Savannah Patterson 30 years old. The three activists were facing charges of f charities fraud and money laundering as they led the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has provided bail money and helped find attorneys for arrested protesters.

AP News reported that Magistrate Court Judge James Altman was asked by Prosecutors to deny the bond to the three activists. However, Altman contributed a $15,000 bond to each of the three activists, expressing concerns about their right to speak freely and saying he did not see the prosecution’s case, at least for now, as “really impressive.” That bond was to be subject to diverse conditions that Altman planned to outline in a written order later Friday.

The prosecution is headed by the office of state Attorney General Chris Carr and according to the spokesperson of Carr in an email characterized the arrests and the search of a home owned by MacLean and Kautz as a multi-agency effort and part of a continuous investigation into violent activity at the site of the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center and other locations.

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The Activists Are Flight Risks And Pose A Threat To The Community

Deputy Attorney General John Fowler argued against the bond and stated that the three activists are flight risks and threaten the community. Moreover, Fowler said that the investigators have found that the activists harbor extremist anti-government and anti-establishment views, and not all of the money goes to what they say it goes to.

As the arrests occurred on Wednesday and came less than a week before the City Council is anticipated to vote Monday on whether to sanction $31 million for the expansion of the $90 million training center. The Atlanta Police Foundation is to foot the rest of the bill. The city’s contract with the foundation also includes a “lease back” provision requiring the city to pay $1.2 million a year for the use of the facility over 30 years, which the city said is less than the $1.4 million it currently pays yearly to lease training area.

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