A judge on Friday granted a request from the district attorney in Atlanta to recuse her office from prosecuting the police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks and instructed the state attorney general to appoint another prosecutor.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who took office in January, had argued that actions by her predecessor, Paul Howard, made it inappropriate for her office to handle the prosecution of Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe. She had asked a judge to determine who should handle the case after state Attorney General Chris Carr twice rejected her requests to recuse herself.
Howard announced charges against Rolfe and another officer involved in the June 2020 confrontation with Brooks less than a week after the shooting. At the time, Howard was fighting to keep his job against a Democratic primary challenge from Willis.
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