Donald Trump and his co-defendants were given a victory this week when Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee provided a pathway for them to appeal the decision that allows District Attorney Fani Willis to stay as the head of the case against them.
Even though they’re now able to ask for a “certificate of immediate review,” which allows them to make an appeal to the state Court of Appeals before the trials start, it doesn’t mean that case will ever be taken up.
Recently, Anthony Michael Kreis, an attorney and professor at the Georgia State University College of Law, told Newsweek that it was very likely that the court of appeals will decline to take up the case.
Kreis explained that in applying for their review of the case, Trump along with the co-defendants will need to show that the decision to allow Willis to remain on the case was decided wrongly and would impact their defense negatively.
As he explained:
“It’ll be very hard for the defendants to demonstrate that the factors that favor review are present here because Judge McAfee’s ruling exhaustively explained why the defendants were not prejudiced by Wade and Willis’ relationship and, applying longstanding precedent, determined there is no actual conflict of interest and provided a curative remedy to remove the appearance of wrongdoing. There is very little for the court to review.”
The defense was asking McAfee to disqualify Willis from the case entirely over allegations that she had improper conduct. They were arguing that the romantic relationship she had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade — who she hired specifically for this case — was a conflict of interest.
In McAfee’s ruling, he wrote that Willis could remain at the head of the case, but only if Wade resigned from his position. He did that on Friday, which means she’s able to move forward in the case.
Even though the request for a review of the decision was approved, McAfee also said that some of the other case’s matters will continue to move forward as originally planned, as the review is pending.
In court filings, McAfee wrote:
“The Court intends to continue addressing the many other unrelated pending pretrial 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.”
Some of the charges that Trump was originally facing in this case have been dismissed. Last Wednesday, six of the indictment’s counts were dismissed, three of which were against Trump.
Initially, Trump was facing 13 charges in Georgia, and even after some of those charges were dismissed, he’s still facing more than six charges.
In making his decision, McAfee said that the counts that are being dismissed “contain all the essential elements of the crimes [but] fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission.
“They do not give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defense intelligently, as the Defendants could have violated the Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways.”
