A judge in Georgia who is expected in coming days to determine whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ personal relationship with a special prosecutor she hired to assemble an election interference case against President Trump corrupted the legal filings, has taken an intermediate step by tossing some of her counts.
Judge Scott McAfee issued an order Wednesday killing six counts in Willis’ case against Trump and some 18 other defendants.
He explained that the state failed to meet the legal requirements for charges by failing to claim sufficient detail for the six counts he dismissed – involving “solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.”
The judge’s ruling said his “concern is less that the state has failed to allege sufficient conduct of the defendants – in fact it has alleged an abundance. However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned opinion, fatal.”
That means, he said, prosecutors refused to “give the defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the defendants could have violated the Constitution and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways.”
The decision perhaps could be seen to reflect on the larger issue in the case: the fact that Willis hired her paramour, Nathan Wade, at a cost to taxpayers of two-thirds of a million dollars, to assemble the “organized crime” elections case against Trump.
However, analysts have noted that he had literally no experience in this type of case.
McAfee recently concluded a series of hearings on the defendants’ claims that Willis had improper conflicts of interest in the case because it was alleged she used tax money to pay Wade, and as part of their relationship, she benefited by going on exotic vacations and trips with him.
She testified she reimbursed him for her costs in those trips in cash, but said she could not provide any evidence of that.
McAfee is expected to rule shortly on whether Willis will be allowed to continue to participate in the case. In fact, it could be determined that neither she nor her office will be allowed, and that could mean the case would be thrown back to its start, and another prosecutor would have to start assembling evidence.
A report by Fox News said the judge pointed out that Willis’ claims lack “detail concerning an essential legal element.”
Fox explained, “Georgia state law prohibits any public officer from willfully and intentionally violating the terms of his or her oath as prescribed by law. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleged that Trump and six of his co-defendants illegally attempted to persuade numerous state officials to violate their oaths in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.”
The case is based largely on evidence resulting from a recording of a telephone call between Trump and state officials, but evidence already has come out that that telephone call probably was recorded illegally.
The counts stem from Willis’ claims that Trump and others tried to convince state officials to challenge the election count, but the judge said the prosecutor would have had to claim at underlying felony.
“In other words, a naked charge of solicitation cannot survive unless accompanied by additional elements establishing the solicited felony,” the judge wrote.
Regarding the evidence of Willis’ conflicts of interest, the judge already has noted it is “clear that disqualification can occur if evidence is produced demonstrating an actual conflict or the appearance of one.”
A report from NPR said Trump now faces 10 charges in the case, not 13.
Critics have accused Willis of lying to the court regarding her relationship with Wade.
via wnd
