Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis urged a Georgia appeals court Monday not to take up defendants' appeal of the decision allowing her to stay on the case against former President Donald Trump.
Willis told the Georgia Court of Appeals in a filing Monday it should reject defendants' continued efforts to disqualify her, noting that Judge Scott McAfee found "The evidence insufficient to establish any actual conflict of interest and declined to dismiss the indictment." McAfee's March ruling allowed Willis to remain on the case if special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who she was in a relationship with and was accused of financially benefiting from appointing, stepped down.
Willis argued Monday the appeal only reflects defendants' "Dissatisfaction" with the outcome based on "Proper application of well-established law to the facts."
McAfee granted the defendants a certificate of review late March enabling them to appeal his ruling.
"In requesting a contrary finding on this issue, the applicants would have this Court invade the province of the trial court and make additional factual findings," the filing said.
"Insofar as the District Attorney delivered a speech at a local church, the trial court concluded the speech did not 'cross the line' because it failed to name any defendant; it did not disclose sensitive or confidential evidence; it did not address the merits of the indicted offenses to move the trial to the court of public opinion; and further, the case is too far removed from jury selection for any actual prejudice or improper effect on the jury pool to actualize," she wrote.
McAfee's ruling stated the speech was "Legally improper" and "Creates dangerous waters for the District Attorney to wade further into," though he found it did not require disqualification.
No comments:
Post a Comment