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Back in 2023, Fani Willis seemed unstoppable. The first-term Fulton
County district attorney became a national name after announcing in
August of that year her intent to succeed where many before her had
failed: holding the then-former President Donald Trump accountable.
Willis brought criminal racketeering charges against Trump, alleging
that he attempted to alter the results of his 2020 presidential election
loss in Georgia, based in part on an audio recording of him telling a
Georgia official he wanted to “find 11,780 votes.” But Willis’ seemingly tight case quickly unspooled after defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant
pulled and pulled at a loose thread — a romantic relationship that
Willis once had with someone she hired to help prosecute Trump.
Now, Willis and her former lover are off the case, which is stalled
until at least 2029. And last week, her office was ordered to pay
Merchant more than $54,000.
Where did things go left?
The setback Willis faced last week stemmed from a dispute over three
documents.
Merchant sought the documents via an open records request to support her January 2024 bombshell claim that Willis had an “improper, clandestine personal relationship” with the special prosecutor she appointed to the
case, Nathan Wade. In a January 2024 filing, she argued for Wade and
Willis to be removed from the case or have it thrown out entirely.
The three documents that Merchant requested include a list of attorneys
Willis hired since taking office in 2021, the confidentiality agreement
that Willis’ employees are required to sign, and all correspondence
between Willis’ office and the Fulton County Purchasing Department
between 2021 and when the request was made. The latter request includes
the documenting of “any payment, requests for payment, process for hiring/bids and paying outside counsel,” according to Krause’s judgment.
Georgia’s Open Records Act permits any member of the public to view,
inspect, and make copies of any documents, communications, data, or
other materials maintained by a government agency. Under the law,
government agencies have three business days to respond and indicate
whether any records will be made available.
But last Friday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel R. Krause
ruled that Willis’ office had failed to comply with Merchant’s open
records request. She ordered the office to pay $54,103.23 within 30 days
to cover Merchant’s legal fees and turn over the documents.
Dexter Bond, the open records custodian for Willis’ office, admitted
during last year’s hearing for the lawsuit that he handled Merchant’s requests differently than he did others.
According to Krause’s ruling, Bond made an “unnecessarily limited interpretation of the request” and refused to communicate with Merchant
by telephone to clarify the request as he normally would.
The DA’s office provided some documents, including 22 confidentiality agreements. But Bond said he did not search for the “promotional and rebranding materials” that Merchant sought, claiming he did not know
what she was seeking.
The romantic relationship between Willis and Wade sparked the election interference case’s eventual breakdown. While Willis and Wade denied any wrongdoing, Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ordered either
prosecutor to resign from the case due to “a significant appearance of impropriety.”
Wade resigned last March. In December, the Georgia Court of Appeals
removed Willis and her office from the case, but stopped short of
dismissing the indictment.
Merchant, a Cobb County-based attorney, didn’t represent Trump — she represented Mike Roman, a former Trump campaign aide and one of 18 co-defendants in the aforementioned racketeering case. Yet, she upended
the prosecution of Trump and turned Willis’ office into a defendant.
“Proud that we have judges willing to hold people in power accountable
when they ignore the law,” Merchant wrote on X following the judge’s ruling.
The district attorney’s office did not comment but confirmed to Capital
B Atlanta its intent to appeal the judge’s decision.
This is not the first time Willis has faced admonition from a Fulton
County judge for failing to produce documents. Superior Court Judge
Shukura L. Ingram ordered Willis to comply with a Georgia state Senate
subpoena in December that was part of a misconduct investigation also
related to Trump’s election interference case.
Willis appealed the judge’s decision and filed a motion to dismiss the
state Senate’s subpoena outright. In her Feb. 25 ruling, Ingram denied
the motion and called the argument “absurd.” Willis finally acquiesced
last Wednesday, agreeing to turn over the requested documents.
The documents include communications between the Fulton DA’s office and
the White House, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. House of Representatives regarding the 2020 presidential election. They also
requested documents related to federal money her office has been
granted.
It’s rare to see an open records case go to trial in Georgia because of
how expensive litigation can be, according to Cory Isaacson, legal
director for the ACLU of Georgia.
“Government agencies in Georgia are often able to sidestep their
obligations under the open records act without any accountability or any consequence for their noncompliance,” she said.
Isaacson said that’s why the judge’s decision to require Willis and her office to turn over not only the requested documents but also to pay
$54,103.23 in attorney fees is a necessary message to send to government agencies across the state “that noncompliance with this law is serious,” and they will be held accountable.
https://atlanta.capitalbnews.org/fani-willis-election-case-legal-fees/
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