On Friday, February 20, 2026, the Orlando Sentinel reported that Fulton County prosecutors are standing by the 2000 murder conviction of H. Rap Brown, a former Black Panther leader, while simultaneously accusing Robert McBurney, the original lead prosecutor in the case, of misconduct. McBurney, now a Fulton County judge, is alleged to have engaged in actions that have raised serious questions about the integrity of the trial.
The Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office acknowledged serious wrongdoing by McBurney and an FBI agent involved in the initial investigation. Despite these concerns, prosecutors maintain that modern DNA testing, combined with ballistic evidence and trial testimony, still strongly implicates Brown, also known as Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, in the shooting that resulted in the death of one deputy and the wounding of another outside Al-Amin’s Atlanta home.
Prosecutors have described McBurney’s conduct during Al-Amin’s trial as “the most egregious” issue in the case. Despite defending the conviction, Willis’ office stated that it does “not object to a hearing to evaluate the case in its entirety,” potentially opening the door for a reexamination of the prosecution, which has long been a point of contention among civil rights advocates and law enforcement.
The accusations against McBurney include displaying a chart during closing arguments titled “Questions for the defendant,” which was intended to focus the jury’s attention on Al-Amin’s decision not to testify. Additionally, McBurney questioned Al-Amin’s court-approved permission to remain seated during the trial for religious reasons, including not standing when the jury entered, when he implored the jury, “Don’t stand for him.” Federal courts have previously ruled that McBurney violated Al-Amin’s constitutional rights, although it was deemed unlikely that his actions substantially affected the verdict.
The filing accuses McBurney of crossing the line from aggressive advocacy into misconduct that undermined the core principles of justice, accusing him of misrepresenting evidence and withholding critical information from the defense. The filing states, “These were not minor oversights; they reflected a troubling pattern of behavior that prioritized winning over truth, and conviction over justice.”
McBurney has also been involved in other high-profile cases. He oversaw the special grand jury used by Willis in her investigation into allegations that Trump and others illegally tried to overturn the 2020 election loss in Georgia. However, McBurney barred Willis from seeking charges against then-state Sen. Burt Jones because she had hosted a fundraiser for his Democratic opponent in the lieutenant governor’s race, which McBurney ruled created an “actual and untenable” conflict of interest. McBurney also declared Georgia’s restrictive abortion law unconstitutional, a finding the state Supreme Court has since vacated.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
