Biography
Francis Carroll, 22, is a pro-forest, anti-Cop City activist from Kennebunkport, Maine. On January 21, 2023, he was arrested during a protest march through downtown Atlanta called in response to the police killing of Manuel "Tortuguita" Paez Terán three days earlier. Demonstrators vandalized the Atlanta Police Foundation building, smashed windows at a Wells Fargo branch, and set an APD patrol car on fire. Carroll was charged with domestic terrorism, first-degree arson, second-degree criminal damage to property, interference with government property, rioting, unlawful assembly, obstruction of a law enforcement officer, and pedestrian in a roadway. He was denied bond on January 23, 2023 and held in Fulton County Jail for several weeks before bond was eventually granted. It was his second domestic terrorism arrest in five weeks, following a December 13, 2022 arrest at the Cop City construction site. In September 2023 he was included in a 61-person RICO indictment brought by the Georgia Attorney General; the RICO charge was dismissed December 30, 2025. His domestic terrorism charge remained pending as of July 2026, with an interlocutory appeal filed in January 2026.
The January 2026 Stop Cop City report distinguishes dismissal of the RICO charges on December 30, 2025 from the denial that day of a defense demurrer concerning domestic-terrorism counts. It identifies Carroll’s January 6 interlocutory appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia and the prosecution’s separate appeal. Filing an appeal is not a completed ruling in either party’s favor, and the procedural event does not establish a custody endpoint.
The August 29, 2023 indictment charged domestic terrorism; Count III specifically alleged criminal attempt to commit first-degree arson. This clarifies the historical charging language without establishing guilt.
