Joyette M. Holmes, an Atlanta-area district attorney, was tapped to take over a case that has stirred protests over its handling, as the Justice Department said it was weighing federal hate crimes charges.
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The Georgia attorney general on Monday named a new prosecutor to oversee the case of Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old black man whose killing has drawn national attention and stirred protests after a video circulated showing his fatal encounter with two white men who have been charged with murder.
The prosecutor, Joyette M. Holmes, comes from Cobb County in the Atlanta metropolitan area, where she is the first African-American to serve as district attorney. In naming Ms. Holmes, Attorney General Chris Carr noted that she would bring to bear the resources of one of Georgia’s largest prosecutor’s offices.
Ms. Holmes becomes the fourth prosecutor in a case that has been marked by outside scrutiny and squabbling between law enforcement officials over how it’s been handled.
She will take on the prosecution of Gregory McMichael,64, and his son Travis McMichael,34, who were charged with murder and aggravated assault after they took up weapons and pursued Mr. Arbery in a pickup truck. Travis McMichael fatally shot Mr. Arbery after getting out of the truck, the authorities said.
