Georgia’s Supreme Court refuses to listen to Fani Willis

Atlanta (AP) – Georgia’s highest court has refused to consider the appeal of the Fulton County District Prosecutor, Fani Willis, of his removal of Georgia’s electoral interference against Donald Trump and others.

Citing an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship that Willis had with the special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom he had hired to lead the case, the Georgia Court of Appeals in December ruled that Willis and his office could not continue to prosecute the case.

“Willis’s misconduct during the investigation and prosecution of President Trump were atrocious and she deserved no less than disqualification,” said Steve Sadow, Trump’s lawyer in the case of Georgia, in a statement.

Ashleight Merchant, who presented Willis’s romantic relationship with Wade as a defense lawyer of Trump’s coacuse, Michael Roman, said: “We hope this finally closes this chapter.”

Willis said he did not agree with the decision of the court, but ordered his office to put the case file and the evidence available to the prosecutor.

“I hope whoever is assigned to handle the case has the courage to do what the evidence and the law demand,” Willis said in a statement sent by email.

AP Photo/Alex Slitz

Willis in January asked the Supreme Court of Georgia to review that ruling, and the Superior Court on Tuesday decreased by a decision of 4-3 to resume the case. A judge did not participate and a judge was disqualified.

That means that it will depend on the Council of Prosecutors to find another prosecutor to take the case. The executive director of the Council, Pete Skandalakis, said Tuesday that he will begin looking for a new prosecutor to replace Willis, but did not know how long he could take.

Skandalakis said that once the new prosecutor is designated, it depends on him or what to do with the case. “

That person could continue on the track that Willis has taken, decide to pursue only some positions or dismiss the case completely. It could be difficult to find a prosecutor willing to take the case, given its complex nature and the required resources.

Even if a new prosecutor wants to continue on the path drawn by Willis, Trump seems unlikely to be processed now that he is the acting president. But there are 14 other defendants who still face charges in the case.

A grand jury in Atlanta accused Trump and another 18 in August 2023, using the state’s anti-rake law to accuse them of participating in a high range scheme to illegally try to revoke the loss of Trump’s 2020 presidential elections before the Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia. The alleged scheme included Trump’s call to the Secretary of State of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, urging him to help enough votes to overcome Biden. Four people declared themselves guilty.

Fulton County Sheriff’s Office through Getty Images

Georgia’s case was one of the four criminal cases presented in 2023 against Trump. The Special Advisor of the Department of Justice, Jack Smith, left two federal prosecution after Trump won the November elections. In his case of money in New York, Trump was convicted of 34 positions but received a sentence of non -punishment.

Willis had asked the Superior Court of Georgia to consider whether the lower Court of Appeals was wrong to disqualify it “based solely on an appearance of incorrectness and in the absence of a real conflict of interest or forensic behavior.” He also asked the Supreme Court of the State to weigh if the Court of Appeals made an error “by replacing the discretion of the Court of First Instance with theirs” in this case.

“No Georgia court has ever disqualified a district prosecutor for the mere appearance of incorrectness without the existence of a real interest conflict,” says Willis’s presentation. “And no Georgia court has reversed the order of a court of first instance to disqualify a prosecutor based only on an appearance of incorrectness.”

Trump’s lawyers had argued in a judicial presentation that the lower Court of Appeals did it well and that Willis’s “disqualification is mandatory because it is the only remedy that could purge the stain of improperity.”

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Brumback reported from New York.