Veteran prosecutor Linda Dunikoski was shocked to learn that she’ll be out of a job next year when the newly elected district attorney takes charge in Cobb County.
Dunikoski made a name for herself trying two of Georgia’s most high-profile, closely scrutinized trials of the past decade.
Her work as the lead prosecutor in the Ahmaud Arbery murder case netted life sentences for the three men who chased down the 25-year-old as he jogged through a coastal Georgia neighborhood. She was also part of the Fulton County prosecution team that secured convictions for 11 of the 12 Atlanta Public Schools educators who stood trial in the test cheating scandal case.
But she is leaving the district attorney’s office at the end of the year after being told her services are no longer needed.
“I was completely blindsided by the decision,” said Dunikoski, a senior assistant district attorney who leads the appellate section of the Cobb DA’s office. “I don’t even know why.”
In her resignation letter to outgoing District Attorney Flynn Broady on Tuesday, Dunikoski said she was informed of the decision in writing by a representative of DA-elect 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 Broady. “I especially want to thank you for entrusting me and our great trial team with the prosecution of the three men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery.”
Dunikoski said her “greatest regret” is that Allen’s decision means she won’t be able to see the case through the appellate process, which includes a likely appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
“I wish everyone in the office my best as they continue to pursue justice and ensure public safety for the people of Cobb County,” Dunikoski told Broady.
Allen, who was sworn in Monday night, ousted the incumbent Democrat in May’s primary, receiving nearly 55% of the vote. She faced no Republican opposition in last month’s general election.
Allen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Dunikoski has worked as a prosecutor in metro Atlanta for nearly 23 years. She was widely praised for her handling of the Arbery case, where 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.
In her closing argument, Dunikoski said Travis McMichael, his father Greg McMichael, and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan chased Arbery to his death “because he was a Black man running down the street.”
“You can’t claim self-defense if you are starting the confrontation,” she said. “This isn’t the Wild West.”
All three defendants were convicted of federal hate crimes charges during a second trial the following year in U.S. District Court in Brunswick.
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.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr appointed the Cobb DA’s office to lead the Arbery case after two southeast Georgia prosecutors recused themselves because of conflicts and another concluded his small office lacked the staffing resources to take it on.
Jackie Johnson, the Glynn County DA at the time of Arbery’s murder, is set to stand trial next month on charges she hindered the police investigation into the killing.
Dunikoski said she is still figuring out what her next move will be, but that she’s proud of what she and colleagues accomplished during her time in Cobb.
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