Ga. high court refuses to toss indictment against ex-officer

By KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s highest court on Tuesday affirmed a lower court decision that declined to quash the indictment of a former Atlanta police officer who’s charged with murder in the shooting death of a 22-year-old man who was driving out of an apartment complex. Former officer James Burns argued that the grand jury proceedings that led to his indictment in 2018 should’ve been held under rules in effect when the shooting happened. Those rules allowed a police officer accused of a crime to sit in on grand jury proceedings and to make a statement without being questioned. A law curtailing officers’ special grand jury privileges went into effect less than two weeks after the shooting and the Georgia Supreme Court said it was proper to use the amended rules.