A Georgia judge chastised state prosecutors Wednesday for mishandling confidential emails between a defense attorney and three Atlanta activists who face racketeering charges connected to violent protests against a planned police and firefighter training center that critics call “Cop City.”

Fulton County Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams said the Georgia Attorney General’s Office committed “gross negligence” by allowing privileged attorney-client emails to be included among a giant cache of evidence that was distributed months ago to investigators and dozens of other defense lawyers who are representing 61 defendants charged last year in a sweeping racketeering indictment against the “Stop Cop City” movement.