Washington, DC - The Fulton County District Attorney’s hasty decision to charge former police officer Garrett Rolfe with felony murder raises serious questions of impartiality and fairness.

A District Attorney has the responsibility to fully review the facts of a possible crime judiciously before bringing a criminal charge, especially one that carries a sentence of life in prison or death.

In this case, the charge against Mr. Rolfe was announced by the District Attorney in a televised news conference before the independent Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) had completed its official investigation and without consultations with GBI, which described itself as “blindsided” by the press conference and the announced charges.

It should be noted that the District Attorney is himself under investigation by the GBI and the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission as he runs for reelection this fall.

We understand the pain and anger from the Atlanta community. But so far, the prosecutorial process appears to be influenced by issues unrelated to the facts and the evidence.