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Judge Scott McAfee : About My Decision on the Fani Willis Case… Grants the defense a certificate of immediate review
Townhall ^ | 03/20/2024 | Mia Cathell

Posted on 03/20/2024 9:49:57 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

The judge whose ruling allowed Fani Willis to stay on the Trump case has granted the defense a certificate of immediate review, permitting former President Donald Trump and eight Trump co-defendants to seek an appeal of his non-disqualification decision.

BREAKING: 🚨🚨

Judge grants “certificate of immediate review” in the #FaniWillis disqualification motion

This means the Court of Appeals has to also approve, but it’s likely to be allowed

The issue is too important.



pic.twitter.com/Ot6DQ21DBM— Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) March 20, 2024

Judge Scott McAfee ruled Friday that the Fulton County district attorney can continue prosecuting the Trump case on one condition: her lover, Nathan Wade, withdraws. If not, she must step aside, and the prosecution as a whole would be reassigned.

"[A]n outsider could reasonably think that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences. As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist," McAfee wrote.

McAfee ordered that the "significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team" "must be removed" through the state's selection of one of the two aforementioned options; Wade goes or Willis is kicked off the case.

Otherwise, the prosecution of this case could not proceed until then, McAfee stipulated.

Within hours, Wade resigned, resolving the ultimatum and, thereby, satisfying McAfee's court order.

On Monday, the defense counsel representing Trump and eight of his co-defendants jointly filed a motion requesting that McAfee issue a certificate of immediate review of his order denying the case's dismissal and the DA's disqualification.

The ruling is "ripe for pretrial appellate review," Trump's defense attorney Steve Sadow remarked in a press statement.

Upon reviewing the defense's joint motion, McAfee found that Friday's ruling "is of such importance to the case that immediate review should be had," pursuant to Georgia law. Accordingly, the motion is granted, McAfee wrote in a court filing Wednesday.

"The challenged order is not one of final judgment, and the State has informed the Court that it has complied with the order’s demands," McAfee said of Friday's ruling, adding that the court "intends to continue addressing" many of the other pending pre-trial motions "regardless of whether the petition is granted within 45 days of filing" and "even if any subsequent appeal is expedited by the appellate court." This means the trial court proceedings are not automatically stayed. As McAfee indicated, he doesn't intend to put the pre-trial proceedings on hold and wants to address any outstanding motions in the meantime.

Now, the defense has 10 days from the certificate's date to file an application for appeal at the appellate level. Then, the matter will head to the Georgia Court of Appeals. However, the appellate court could still decline to hear the Trump team's plea.

But, if the appeals court does take the case, it could direct McAfee to pause proceedings pending its ruling.

As Lawfare's Anna Bower explains: The defense bears the burden of persuading the appellate court to take up the appeal.

Rule 30 of the Georgia Court of Appeals provides a list of factors, under burden of proof, for the court to consider when deciding whether to grant an application for interlocutory appeal: 1) The issue "appears to be dispositive of the case"; or 2) The order "appears erroneous and will probably cause a substantial error at trial or will adversely affect the rights of the appealing party until entry of final judgment, in which case the appeal will be expedited"; or 3) "The establishment of precedent is desirable."

"This is highly significant," Sadow reacted to the certificate's issuance in a press statement shared with Townhall. "The defense is optimistic that appellate review will lead to the case being dismissed and the DA being disqualified," Trump's attorney added.

Sadow took a victory lap lambasting the skeptics who doubted McAfee would issue the certificate: "So much for the so-called 'expert' naysayers who said Judge McAfee would not grant the certificate. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!" Sadow posted.

McAfee's ruling was based on what standard of ethics he decided to apply in the matter. During final arguments, the prosecution and the defense argued over how the judge should determine what constitutes a conflict of interest. So, McAfee had to choose whether "an appearance" of a conflict was enough grounds for disqualification or decide that an "actual" conflict of interest arose.

McAfee found that the evidence is "legally insufficient to support a finding of an actual conflict of interest" and that the co-defendants "failed to meet their burden of proving that the District Attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest in this case through her personal relationship and recurring travels with her lead prosecutor." However, the court's inquiry did not end there.

The Fulton County Superior Court judge declared that the prosecution is "encumbered by an appearance of impropriety."

Even if the affair began after Wade's appointment in November 2021, McAfee noted, Willis "chose to continue supervising and paying Wade while maintaining such a relationship. She further allowed the regular and loose exchange of money between them without any exact or verifiable measure of reconciliation. This lack of a confirmed financial split creates the possibility and appearance that the District Attorney benefited [...] from a contract whose award lay solely within her purview and policing."

But, the DA's disqualification is not "necessary," McAfee said, "when a less drastic and sufficiently remedial option is available."

"This finding is by no means an indication that the Court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the District Attorney's testimony during the evidentiary hearing," McAfee stressed. "Rather, it is the undersigned's opinion that Georgia law does not permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices—even repeatedly..."

Other forums or authorities, such as the General Assembly, the State Ethics Commission, the state bar, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, or even the electorate, "may offer feedback on any unanswered questions that linger," McAfee countered.



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: fanniwillis; georgia; judgemccafee

1 posted on 03/20/2024 9:49:57 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Judge McCoward.


2 posted on 03/20/2024 9:53:12 AM PDT by CaptainK ("If life's really hard, at least its short")
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To: CaptainK

No....this is how you get things rolling....Hang on. It’s going to be a wild ride.


3 posted on 03/20/2024 9:59:09 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: CaptainK

Well, he may have found a way to DQ Fanni without personally acting to DQ Fanni.


4 posted on 03/20/2024 9:59:46 AM PDT by alancarp (George Orwell was an optimist.)
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To: Sacajaweau

I agree.


5 posted on 03/20/2024 10:01:11 AM PDT by georgia peach (georgia peach)
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To: CaptainK

Judge McWantsItBothWays.

But whether cowardly or feckless, the end result of his actions is a miscarriage of justice.

Personally I hope he loses both ways: I hope he watches the case go down in flames and history assigns him his rightful reputation as a cowardly feckless loser — AND I hope he loses re-election in spite of his game playing to stay in the good graces of his electorate.


6 posted on 03/20/2024 10:01:29 AM PDT by Nervous Tick ("First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people...": ISLAM is the problem!)
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To: alancarp
Exactly. This is what we call home cookin' in the courts. An elected judge has to please his base, if he expects to return to the bench. He offers up a limited decision, not totally slapping Willis, and opens the door for the appellate level to finish the job.
7 posted on 03/20/2024 10:04:51 AM PDT by Wally_Kalbacken
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To: alancarp

DQ Fani sounds like what you get from eating too many Blizzards.


8 posted on 03/20/2024 10:07:05 AM PDT by Right Brother (Pray for God's intervention to stop UMCRevMom's invasion of Free Republict)
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To: Nervous Tick
Your hope is not well founded. Why not let it play out and see what happens....then give a final thought.

She needs to be investigated...and this is a way to make it happen. If he had ousted her...she was scott free...license in tact...and someone new gets a case that nobody wants....cuz it's a loser.

9 posted on 03/20/2024 10:09:23 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: CaptainK

Fatty should be prosecuted for the crimes she has committed. This judge should have removed her and her lover from the case immediately. The whole case should have been thrown out. I guess it’s a crime to contest election results where there were many signs of fraud being committed. We all know the 2020 election was stolen from president Trump. Our country is now a banana republic with a president who has the IQ of a banana.


10 posted on 03/20/2024 10:12:39 AM PDT by Rdct29 (The Democrats Are The New Nazi Party )
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To: SeekAndFind

“ The motion further notes that the Court found Georgia case law lacks controlling precedent for the standard for disqualification of a prosecuting attorney for forensic misconduct.”

I am not a lawyer, but mustn’t there be a precedent set at some point, even today? How can you say that as there is no precedent, we can’t do it? That sounds asinine.
Grow a pair. Set the frikkin precedent, FCOL.


11 posted on 03/20/2024 10:16:21 AM PDT by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
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