FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — After securing an indictment of a former Griffin Police officer, the district attorney who brought the case spoke exclusively with 11Alive Tuesday.
In an interview, Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Marie Broder described the investigation that led to the indictment and suggested other criminal consequences connected to the case have not been ruled out.
Last week, a grand jury indicted former Griffin Police officer D.J. King with one count of violating his oath as a public officer.
The indictment accused King of mishandling the 2021 investigation of the killing of Javarreis Reid.
While King was tasked with investigating that killing, the indictment alleges King withheld information that indicated his brother was a suspect in the case.
"The word that comes to mind is just 'a disappointment,'" Broder said. "Before this, D.J. King was a law enforcement officer who had worked difficult cases. He was kind of a rising star."
On Friday, he was booked into the Spalding County jail and later released after posting a $30,000 bond, according to records obtained from the Spalding County Sheriff's Office.
When reached by phone Tuesday, King declined to comment. According to Broder, he maintains his innocence.
King was not the only Griffin Police employee caught in the controversy surrounding the Reid murder investigation.
In a letter to the Griffin City Manager in September, D.A. Broder wrote that a GBI investigation into the handling of the case revealed "policy violations by both Officer King and Chief Yates."
"These violations are egregious enough to have destroyed my Office's confidence in both Officer King and Chief Yates to effectively perform their duties," the D.A.'s letter continued.
Shortly after that letter was sent, Michael Yates retired from his post as chief of the Griffin Police Department.
Broder confirmed that her office has not brought a case against Yates before any grand jury. But she also did not rule out the possibility of doing so in the future.
"Right now, our focus was on D.J. King," Broder said. "I know that my prosecutor that's working on the case has been looking into if we can. And that's something that we're discussing right now."
Over the phone Tuesday, Yates declined to comment. In an interview in late 2023 for 11Alive's initial investigation into the case, he defended his conduct and vigorously denied violating any laws.
“I adamantly deny any wrongdoing or violations of policy, ever,” Yates wrote in an email to 11Alive at the time. “At no time was I presented with any tangible evidence of criminal action or wrong-doing on King's [sic] part other than poor case management and lack of documentation in the case.”
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Yates said he complied with the D.A.’s instructions throughout the case.
“My investigators and myself followed DA Broder’s instructions surrounding this case to the letter,” Yates wrote. “I followed our Nationally Accreditation Standards Policies to the letter as well.”
He further claimed that the department investigated “the King matter” themselves as a “criminal investigation” but determined that King had not “committed any crime or policy violation other than poor documentation of his casework.”
When asked Tuesday if the indictment of King suggested systemic problems within the Griffin Police Department, Broder said no.
"Part of the reason that we took this case as seriously as we did is I didn't want it to be an indictment on the Griffin Police Department," she continued. "The indictment I wanted to be on the individual involved, not the department itself."
In a statement last week, Griffin City Manager Jessica O'Connor wrote that the city has hired a new police chief and is deploying new policies to mitigate the chances of future alleged misconduct.
"The conduct that the City – as an organization and a community – experienced in this matter does not meet the organizational principles for which we strive," O'Connor wrote.