The family and supporters of a young mother shot and killed by police have now asked the governor and attorney general to intervene in the case.
They sent a letter to Governor Nathan Deal and Attorney General Sam Olens Thursday asking them to direct the GBI to re-open the investigation of the officers involved, and the district attorney who handled the case.
"In our system of justice, this is it, this is all you have," said Bill Atkins, who represented Caroline Small's family.
The GBI is prohibited, by statute, from opening a case on its own without being called in by another agency.
Atkins knows it's a last ditch effort, but it's one Small's mother and supporters feel they have to try.
The young mother was gunned down through the front windshield of her car five years ago, by police officers who had chased her from a mall parking lot, and blocked in her car against a utility pole.
"I was just stunned. You want to believe the best in the legal system you want to believe the best with police officers," said Karen McGehee, Small's mother.
McGehee says both of those systems failed her and her daughter, after a Channel 2 Action News - Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation revealed questions about the Glynn County officers' behavior, and that of Brunswick District Attorney Jackie Johnson when she took the officers to a grand jury.
"I would like to see a full and fair investigation of the facts," said Frank Walper, who helped organize a group of Small supporters that is now more than 100 strong.
Earlier this week, four former prosecutors from Johnson's office accused her of deliberately mishandling the case to protect the officers.
Records show Johnson agreed not to show the grand jury a murder indictment.
But she let the officers attend anyway, and let their defense attorneys speak.
She also sent them all the evidence ahead of time.
The grand jury voted to clear the officers.
"If the governor doesn't act, it leaves the citizens of Georgia with the impression that district attorneys can collude with law enforcement to protect their own," said Atkins.
The supporters would like to see a special prosecutor appointed so another grand jury can hear the case.
"The result may end up being the same but at least it'll be transparent," said Atkins.
Several of the original grand jurors who heard the case told reporters they believe it should be heard again, given all they have learned since then.
Jackie Johnson has repeatedly declined our requests for an interview, but she sent a statement to our sister station in Jacksonville saying, "As District Attorney, I took a solemn oath to do justice for the citizens of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, and I took that oath seriously when I presented the case to the grand jury."
She accused her former employees of "exploiting the case for their own agenda," but did not address any of the specific findings of this investigation.
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