Georgia Appeals Court Kicks Fani Willis Off Trump Election Case
The court did not grant Trump’s request to dismiss the indictment.
The Court of Appeals of Georgia disqualified Fulton County DA Fani Willis from President-elect Donald Trump’s election case over her relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
“The remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring,” wrote the court.
Trump and some of his co-defendants argued Willis should be removed due to her relationship with then-Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade, citing a conflict of interest.
Judge Scott McAfee said Willis could stay if Wade stepped down.
Wade stepped down on that day.
The court noted it had to look at “particular facts and circumstances of each case while keeping some general principles in mind” since “appearance of impropriety” is not in Georgia law to disqualify the district attorney’s office.
The court mentioned bright-lined rules, which are objective rules “that resolve legal questions in a straightforward, predictable manner.”
Since there are no bright-line rules in Georgia law regarding this issue, the court looked at State v. Wooten, 273 Ga. 529, 531 (2) (543 SE2d 721) (2001), which explained that the district attorney has a “special duty” that means the office is held to a higher standard:
In our criminal justice system, the district attorney represents the people of the state in prosecuting individuals who have been charged with violating our state’s criminal laws. The responsibility of a public prosecutor differs from that of the usual advocate; [her] duty is to seek justice, not merely to convict. This special duty exists because the prosecutor represents the sovereign and should exercise restraint in the discretionary exercise of governmental powers. Therefore, the district attorney is more than an advocate for one party and has additional professional responsibilities as a public prosecutor to make decisions in the public’s interest.In the district attorney’s role as an administrator of justice, he or she has broad discretion in making decisions prior to trial about who to prosecute, what charges to bring, and which sentence to seek.
“While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety generally is not enough to support disqualification, this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings,” the court concluded.
Trump requested to dismiss the indictment.
However, the appeals court said despite Willis’s “significant appearance of impropriety,” it could not “conclude that the record also supports the imposition of the extreme sanction of dismissal of the indictment under the appropriate standard.”
The trial court, which also refused to dismiss the indictment, ruled that the evidence did not show “that the Defendants’ due process rights have been violated or that the issues involved prejudiced the Defendants in any way.”
So, what is next? Another prosecutor will take over. That prosecutor can determine to continue the case or throw it out.
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She should be disbarred.
Behind bars
Months in stocks,
Soaring stocks.
She very well might end up disbarred, perhaps more. Her problems are just starting. There are serious questions about potentially criminal conduct surrounding how she compensated her boyfriend. This issue and several others are being aggressively pursued by the GA Senate. There are also rumors that the AG/GBI have opened a criminal investigation. They refused to comment when asked about it by the local media.
Her answers when asked about the money for those trips were not truthful.That is perjury. It would probably not be worth investigating a matter of ~$1,000 ,but she should be disbarred.
Take a load off Fani…
Well played.
All such an action would do is give the impression that the GA Bar cares about prosecutorial misconduct. All such a disbament now would do is show that the Bra has read the polls and its time to ditich Fani.
The time for disbarment was when she played the race card while speaking to Atlanta’s oldest black church in January 2024:
https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/01/15/read-fulton-county-da-fani-willis-improper-relationship-charges/
In any case, it would hardly ,matter. Fulton County reelected her by 69-31 in November. Willis is just the Alvin Bragg of Fulton County.
This should end the Georgia nightmare.
No one from Fannie’s office is able to work on the matter.
The State, to go forward, must have someone that is willing to go forward, starting from scratch.
Also, Trump’s case will be in never-never land for the next four years. (The whole purpose of the GA case was to prevent Trump’s election.)
Pretty sure it wouldn’t be allowed for anyone under her influence to proceed with it. So, it’s a matter of finding another or adjacent DA jurisdiction to pick it up, I think. Which I doubt will happen. This one is way too tainted that even a 10 foot pole would be inadequate…..
If I’m reading the tea leaves right, the next prosecutor has the option of dismissing the charges totally, which is the clean and easy way for them to proceed. The judge at that point has no option other than to allow the dismissal *except* if they pull an Emmet Sullivan and try to prosecute the case themselves, which he got smacked across the nose for when he tried to pull that with the dismissed Flynn case.
If the incoming prosecutor decides to prosecute the case, they’re going to have to go back to scratch because of the huge mess Fani dumped over the whole thing. Nobody wants that, not even the most diehard lefty.
It’s possible some the inane RICO stretch against Trump gets dismissed by whoever picks it up. The remaining charges and persons involved might get some continuance.
The DA commission has to randomly assign a new DA And they have the power to drop the case also.
I will find it astonishing if the office continues this case and agree that she should be removed as DA and be disbarred. If her conduct in the is case isn’t unprofessional in the extreme I don’t know what is.
Under this decision, No one under the Fulton counties D.A.’s office can proceed with the case. It has to be removed to another office. The question now is what Ga. D.A. is going to be willing to touch this case. I doubt there will be many.
Yes, I should clarify my comment and sure wish there was an edit button on this sight. I should have said “any office”
From the ruling: “As we conclude that the elected district attorney is wholly disqualified from this case, ‘the assistant district attorneys – whose only power to prosecute a case is derived from the constitutional authority of the district attorney who appointed them – have no authority to proceed.”
Need to have RICO investigation for all involved in the law fare against Trump. If there are no consequences, it will embolden them do this again.
Would help if Trump wasn’t corrupt to the core and a pathological liar.
You progressive fascists just can’t help attacking Trump with unfounded charges. You know like Russian Collusion that your special persecutor was unable to prove after spending $20 million. And the the two bogus impeachments that turned into nothing when presented to the Senate. No one should believe you after the lies you told about Trump. No one is that stupid!
‘progresssive facist ?? I would say more like a person who sees Trump for for who he is. Like Bolton, Pence, Milley, Mcmaster ,and BarrUnfounded charges? Hmmm. I think there’s a mountain of evidence in all 3 indictments that are still outstanding. .He almost certainly would have been convicted in all 3-just like the one that DID go to trial. Please remember- he has LOST 5 civil cases because of his serial lying. The two impeachment. We #KNOW# he offered a bribe to Zelensky in return for dirt on Biden. That’s so inappropriate it defies explanation. Same with 1/6. His malfeasance is well documented. The GOP had 2 chances there to rid the party of the Trump cancer and spinelessly chose not to. Now- we have cretin who is completely incompetent and unfit for the job, which he proves every day. Going after Liz Cheney and Jack Smith with zero evidence of any crime? Suing a pollster ?? If you can’t see how inappropriate that is, then you need to look in the mirror.
So Willis’s conduct taints the case enough to get her kicked off but not enough to dismiss? It seems to this non-lawyer that it should be. Maybe an attorney can shed some light on this.
.
i don’t think what she did has anything to do with what Trump did.
“Fani Willis kicked off Trump election case”
I doubt she was kicked. More likely two weight lifters came and rolled her off.
I think a forklift was involved
Be nice! It’s not polite to belittle the volumetrically enhanced.
Oh that’s heavy, man!
Such a weighty comment.
Fat Fani Willis.. ugly in and out and not very smart.
But everybody has someone out there just for them. Right, Nathan?
Willis, Kim Foxx, Marilyn Mosby, Kimberly Gardner, Alvin Bragg…just another in the recent DEI hiring frenzy who were totally unqualified for their jobs.
I was shocked to find that Willis was NOT a George Soros DA.
Soros actually backed the incumbent, Paul Howard, when Fani was first elected.
Don’t forget Kamala.
And note that they’re all women, too. (Sorry to out you, Alvin).
Don’t forget Pammy Price out in Oakland. She is about to be rung up for extortion.
James and Bragg would appear to have the same problem…but that’s New York and not the USA.
what problem would that be?
All those people who chose plea agreements in this case (I think there were four or more), chose poorly.
You mean people who were not billionaires.
Yep, that’s what violence the current state of the justice system does to justice these days.
I hope someone takes over and not only dismisses the charges but announces the charges should have never been bought in the first place based on the evidence.
Then announces that a referral has been made to the Attorney General about possible crimes because I’ve no doubt Fani and a bunch of other people not in Georgia have been coordinating with each other.
What he did with Raffensberger proves once and again what so many in his inner circle concluded- Trump is completely unfit for office. It’s a national disgrace that the GOP failed to remove him from office with the two impeachments. This issue would theoretically be best deal with through impeachment, but since the GOP has proven they put party over country, the legal remedy is best option. I hope they stick with it.
The way I read this the court was being cautious, The court wants impartial eyes on the case. It doesn’t want to decide on the merits of the case until a competent D.A. has prosecuted it.
It’s a lawfare case so shouldn’t depend on who’s prosecuting it. There’s probably somebody willing to prosecute it still, but the selection process may be random with respect to that, giving some odds that it dies.
The corruption of the justice system remains, however.
After the public refutation from details made public and the embarrassment of Willis, it would take a super hard-core progressive DA to want to continue at least the RICO charges against Trump. Not sure there is another DA in GA who fits that bill. Not at the level of Willis or Bragg, at least.
Fani learned that she in fact is not untouchable. All it takes is one victory and entire industries disappear. Is anyone manufacturing race cards these days after Gibsons-Oberlin? They all seemed to settle quickly and quietly with Nick Sandmann. How are Kyle’s defamation cases going, or are they too being settled? Might be nice to take old Brandon to court for his statements. How many cases are being filed about police brutality with the proliferation of bodycams? The entire race/intersectionality grifting industry is slowly being taken apart. Downside is now greater than upside. None of them have won. Some are just pretty slow to admit the loss.
I wonder if anyone wants it. For a Republican Prosecutor- no thanks. For a Democrat Prosecutor, now that the election is decided, what’s the benefit?
Disregarding the actual merits of the case: A thankless slog in court for two or three years followed by an inevitable appeal, ultimately reaching the Supreme Court. Trump will be out of office by then, the Press therefore indifferent, and the noble foot-soldier for the Democratic Party who has sweated over the case for years will have been over-shadowed by others who chose prosecutions that will get them press attention. So: No thanks for a Dem either, in my humble opinion.
I wonder how that works in Georgia. Does the Court of Appeals assign it at random to a different DA? Does it start entirely from scratch as in a new DA has to decide to bring charges or does he/she get the case and then just drops the entire thing.
I looked up how the case will be reassigned out of her office if she doesn’t appeal. She probably will but won’t be successful and I’d let it go if I were her.
Cases that are removed like this are sent to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia for reassignment. How they do it I don’t know. Probably just a random pick.
There are several counties surrounding Fulton County that swung heavily for Harris, so we’ll see what happens next.
My guess is it will go to Dekalb DA Sherry Boston.
Sherry Boston. is smart enough to know better than to touch that case.
It’s a good day.
“Kicks Fani”
I see what you did there.
I was shocked to find that Willis was NOT a George Soros DA.
Soros actually backed the incumbent, Paul Howard, when Fani was first elected.
This case will never see a courtroom. Book it. My intuition says shortly after the inauguration a statement will be issued from the DA commission that there is no reason to assign a DA and they will dismiss with prejudice. That opens the door to go after Fanni for corruption in the lead up to the case. Misuse of funds, misuse of federal funds, etc..
IIRC she testified about committing crimes
Conduct by herself
Why isn’t she being prosecuted?
Slam dunk
So, the court finds she targeted him improperly – for political reasons, obviously, and therefore she’s off the case.
But, the case can continue?
Seems the fact that she choose a political opponent to target for prosecution and then went fishing for something to charge him with ought to require the entire case being tossed with prejudice.
Ditto every other case that’s been brought against him.
If I understand it, the dismissal has nothing to do with the political targeting. It’s because Willis corruptly hired Wade, and a corrupt DA should not be allowed to prosecute anyone for anything.
What she did was clearly wrong. She was not truthful about the money and the trips. That said, it had NOTHING to do with what Trump did. What we KNOW he did was so far beyond the pale it is unfathomable how he can be considered fit for Office. Put me in the BArr, Pence, Kelly, Bolton et al. camp. It’s a disgrace he is President .And he keeps proving WHY is unfit for Office
Trump’s behavior may have been beyond your personal pale. But it appears to me that he didn’t break any laws. If you think he did, please name those laws and explain how he broke them.
The problem with most of the cases against Trump (apart from the documents case in Florida) is that he could concede that he did exactly what they allege, and he still wouldn’t have committed any crime. The crimes he was charged with simply don’t match the acts by which he’s alleged to have committed them. Nor do they match the headlines.
For instance Willis loudly accused him of “election interference”, but that isn’t a crime. So in the formal charging documents she seems to have picked some crimes at random and claimed that the acts alleged amount to those crimes, but they don’t.
At least in Florida there was an actual law at issue, and alleged acts that if true would plausibly have broken that law. So at least prima facie there was a case for him to answer. In the other cases there just wasn’t.
the crimes are all laid out in the indictment.
https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2023/08/CRIMINAL-INDICTMENT-Trump-Fulton-County-GA.pdf
I am certain he was guilty of some of them.
I am also certain he would have been convicted in the Fla . case.
Also the 1/6 case. Given the high profile nature of the case, I am certain Jack Smith was pretty thorough. Trump is a pathological serial liar. That works at MAGA rallies but has not worked out well for him in court. Although he never take a stand in a criminal case. ( Hey -only guilty people take the 5th right ? lol) ,all the public statements he has made, about these matter, aka lies, would work against him.
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