Last week, as we conducted our interview with District Attorney Fani Willis, three grieving families were awaiting news from her office related to their loved ones’ deaths at the hands of Atlanta police officers.
This week, the family of Deacon Johnny Hollman finally got their answer: A Fulton County grand jury has declined to bring charges against Kiran Kimbrough, the officer who shocked the 62-year-old with a Taser after a traffic incident in August 2023. Hollman collapsed at the scene and died at the hospital hours later.
While Hollman’s family and police accountability activists believed this to be an open-and-shut case, Willis told Capital B Atlanta that with police brutality cases it’s never that simple.
“Quite frankly, to get an officer indicted, it does take more work,” she said. “Those are the one cases that a defendant, meaning the officer, can actually come into the grand jury, they get to bring their lawyer, they get to vet the case at that stage.”
Even when the DA does press charges, it is still an uphill battle to hold a police officer accountable.
It’s been over six years since Jimmy Hill’s 21-year-old son Jimmy Atchison was shot and killed by now-retired APD officer Sung Kim. Despite a federal judge dismissing the charges against Kim in June, Hill remains determined to seek justice for his son.
“Sometimes it seems like I’m on an island by myself fighting, but I know that I have to be the one to set the tone as a father,” Hill told Capital B Atlanta at a protest last month outside the Fulton County Courthouse. His goal was for Willis to appeal the judge’s decision and keep the case open.
For the family of Devon Anderson, answers could still be months away. The 38-year-old was shot and killed by off-duty APD officer Melvin Potter on Aug. 5, 2024, while trying to break up a fight outside a bar.
“Melvin Potter needs to be in jail, and he needs to be charged with murder, and I’m not going to stop until he is,” Valerie Lans-Anderson, Devon’s mother, told Capital B Atlanta last fall.
In part two of our interview, Willis responds to her department’s handling of brutality cases and addresses threats on her life.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Read More: Fani Willis Calls Commissioners ‘Liars’ in Jail Funds Fight
Capital B: Do you think that the necessity of the DA to work with law enforcement agencies impacts your ability to prosecute police brutality cases?
Fani Willis: Check my record. Look how many officers I’ve indicted. When we came to this office, there were 101 police brutality cases. They went back to 2009, [cases] that had just sat and were uncharged. I made decisions on every single one of those 101 cases.
Unfortunately, in the first two to three years, I brought a lot of charges and cleared a lot of cases because cases had sat for so long. Right now, again, I don’t have any police brutality cases that occurred before 2024, but the process is longer.
And so for my families, the victims, I have to tell them like, “You’re gonna have to be patient with us.” I do not make decisions based on politics or out of fear. I’ve had families come in here after I’ve made a decision not to charge an officer [asking] why don’t I put it in front of the grand jury and let them decide.
Because I took an oath, and if the evidence is not here, I think it is unethical to put that evidence up. We don’t bring those cases.
However, I don’t care how pissed off police departments get at me. If we find that the police officer violated the law or violated their oath, we bring those charges. I have not been afraid either way.
How do you respond to families of police brutality victims who feel charges have not been brought in a timely manner?
In a police brutality case, those cases are typically going to take 18 months to two years to get done. Some can get done quicker, but some take that long because of the amount of money and the experts I have to pay to be able to prove them.
“I don’t care how pissed off police departments get at me. If we find that the police officer violated the law or violated their oath, we bring those charges.”
Fani Willis
So the day an incident happens, the [Georgia Bureau of Investigation] does an investigation that usually takes four to six months. Let’s say it’s done at month six, just for some easy math. Then those lawyers that work for me, that are not [assistant district attorneys], but work for the filter team, they pick it up. That’s another 90 days.
It’s typically nine months after an incident before we even start our investigation. And then I do have a very specified team of lawyers that are kind of closed off. They have their own computer system, their own investigators. My other units get mad at me. They say that unit is spoiled because they get more resources than everyone else, and they just do those cases. That’s all they do. And they are my most seasoned lawyers.
Last week I spoke with Jimmy Hill, the father of Jimmy Atchison, who said the ADA suggested they should talk to the U.S. Attorney about the appeal. Is it the opinion of your office that because that case was moved to federal court, that it should have been in the US Attorney’s jurisdiction?
I’m not sure what Mr. [Hill] is talking about. That was the case that we prosecuted and the federal court threw it out, so we can go no further. I don’t know if what the ADA was saying is maybe you can have the federal government look at it. My belief is that that case is over.
You don’t plan to appeal the judge’s decision?
No.
In the aftermath of choosing to indict Donald Trump and pursue the YSL RICO cases, your safety was threatened quite a few times. How has it impacted your role as a district attorney?
It hasn’t. It has impacted me as a human being. I have not lived in my house since the first four months I was in office. I just wrote a mortgage check, so I’m angry every month as I pay the mortgage for an empty vessel. Personally, that has impacted me, but it has not changed the way I’m going to do my job.
I’m not going to be bullied. They got the right person at the right time sitting in this seat. There might be something wrong with me, but I love this work. I love what I do.
Many people [said] my motivation was to do something greater. And I’m thinking, what are they talking about? I have the greatest job on Earth. I get to serve my community. I get to make it more safe. I get to make decisions that start diversion programs to change people’s lives.
“I’m not going to be bullied. They got the right person at the right time sitting in this seat. There might be something wrong with me, but I love this work. I love what I do.”
Fani Willis
I am the only DA in the country that has created a program in the school system, because I know we are more helpful to our community if I meet these children in the classroom and not the courtroom.
To sit with this kind of power, to be able to literally change people’s lives. There really is no better job on Earth than to be able to do this. It sure as hell ain’t for the money. Because, I don’t make enough money. The people that serve under me do not make enough money for the stress that we [endure]. But I would challenge you to find someone that does work more meaningful.
Read part one of Capital B’s exclusive interview with DA Fani Willis, where she discusses her ongoing battle with commissioners for adequate funding to address an unindicted backlog at the notorious Fulton County Jail.
