JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The guilty verdicts in the cases against the men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery have come and gone, but his family says the fight for justice isn't over.
"I look at this as a milestone [the guilty verdict in the federal case], another milestone, another challenge that we've overcome," Wanda Cooper Jones, Arbery's mother, said.
"We still have the DAs that we have to deal with as well, but we've come a long way and we're not done," she said.
"The cover up is having blood on Jackie Johnson’s hands as well, not only on this murderous trio, but also on anybody who tried to cover this up, sweep it under the rug and say that Ahmaud Arbery’s life didn’t matter," Arbery family attorney, Ben Crump, said.
Johnson is accused of violating her oath of office for allegedly showing "favor and affection" to Gregory McMichael, one of the men convicted of murdering Arbery. Gregory McMichael is also Johnson's former investigator. The indictment said she shielded his son, Travis McMichael, also convicted of murder, from arrest.
Johnson has pleaded not guilty. A hearing date hasn't been set yet.
“We’re going to continue to make sure the course is tracked that everybody who was responsible for the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery and the aftermath, the coverup, the conspiracy, they will be held accountable,” Crump said.
"We believe Ahmaud Arbery will be the most high-profile case in America to see that Black people in America too deserve full justice, not partial justice," Crump said.
The suit demands millions of dollars in damages from Johnson, Waycross District Attorney George Barnhill who was the second DA to handle the case, and several Glynn County Police Officers. It also asks for a jury trial, and says the three men who murdered Arbery violated his civil rights.
The civil case was put on hold until the end of the criminal proceedings.