ATLANTA (AP) — Two of three people charged with arson in the burning of the Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta where a police officer fatally shot Rayshard Brooks in June 2020 have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors.
Chisom Kingston, Natalie White and John Wade were arrested on arson charges within weeks of the fire, which came in the midst of weeks of upheaval and protest across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s death under the knee of a Minneapolis police office. A Fulton County grand jury in January 2022 indicted the trio on two counts each of first-degree arson and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree arson.
Kingston and White on Thursday pleaded guilty to the charges and each received a sentence of five years of probation, a $500 fine and 150 hours of community service to be completed with a nonprofit organization within the first year of probation, according to online court records. They were each sentenced under Georgia’s first offender law, meaning that if they complete their sentences without violating the terms or committing another crime, their records will be wiped clean.
Wade’s case was still pending. He was in federal prison in West Virginia after pleading guilty in February 2022 to a charge of conspiracy to burn U.S. Postal Service vehicles. A lawyer listed for him in court records did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday seeking comment on his Fulton County case.
Khalil Eaddy, an attorney for Kingston, said his client is remorseful and is grateful to have this case behind him.
“This is a good young man committed to his family and his community” Eaddy said in a press release Tuesday. “Since that night three years ago, he’s not only graduated from Georgia State University with plans to begin graduate school, he has kept the faith with our courts and with justice itself.”
The fast food restaurant was set ablaze during a protest on June 13, 2020, the night after a police officer fatally shot Brooks.
Police had…
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