A veteran prosecutor who gained national attention for her handling of two high-profile Georgia cases has been hired by the Augusta Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office after she was canned by the new district attorney in Cobb County.
Linda Dunikoski will join Augusta DA Jared Williams’ team as an assistant district attorney, chief of appeals and director of attorney development, his office said.
Dunikoski was the lead prosecutor in the Ahmaud Arbery case and worked alongside Fulton County DA Fani Willis in securing convictions for 11 of the 12 Atlanta Public Schools educators who stood trial in a test cheating scandal case.
“We are grateful to have the experience, talent, and leadership of a prosecutor like Mrs. Dunikoski,” Williams said in a release. “This is just the beginning of our renewed efforts to make the Augusta Judicial Circuit the safest place to live, work and raise a family.”
Dunikoski’s work as the lead prosecutor in the Ahmaud Arbery murder case resulted in three life sentences for the three men who chased down the 25-year-old as he jogged through a coastal Georgia neighborhood.
She told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month that she was “blindsided by the decision” after she was told that her services were no longer needed by newly elected Cobb County District Attorney Sonya Allen.
“It has been an honor serving the people of the State of Georgia and the citizens of Cobb County for the last five years,” Dunikoski told outgoing DA Flynn Broady in her resignation letter.
According to a statement from Williams’ office, Dunikoski will represent Richmond and Burke County residents in both the Georgia Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, assist in jury trials involving serious violent felonies, and train local prosecutors.
Dunikoski worked as a prosecutor in metro Atlanta for nearly 23 years. She was widely praised for her handling of the Arbery case, in which she and her team persuaded a nearly all-white Glynn County jury to convict the three men of what many believed was a racially motivated murder.
Dunikoski was named Assistant District Attorney of the Year in 2023 by the District Attorneys’ Association of Georgia. In 2022, the Daily Report named her Attorney of the Year in Georgia.
- Staff writer Shaddi Abusaid contributed to this report.
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