Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been ordered to pay more than $54,000 in legal fees for violating Georgia’s Open Records Act, according to court documents.
The issue arose when Willis’ office failed to provide records requested by defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Michael Roman, a former aide to President Donald Trump.
Roman was indicted alongside Trump in the ongoing Georgia election interference case initiated by Willis in 2023, as reported by Newsweek. This ruling, issued on Friday, presents another obstacle for Fani Willis in her prosecution of Trump and the other defendants, as noted by the outlet. In December, Willis was removed from the case involving Trump and 18 other co-defendants, who are accused of conspiring to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory in Georgia.
Trump has denied the allegations and accused Willis of conducting a politically motivated attack. The Georgia Court of Appeals found that the disqualification was justified due to the “appearance of impropriety” associated with Willis’ previous connection to Nathan Wade, a former special prosecutor on the case, who resigned in October.
Willis appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court in January, arguing that the court made an error in disqualifying her “solely based on an appearance of impropriety and without demonstrating an actual conflict of interest or forensic misconduct.”
In a court order issued on Friday, the judge remarked that the District Attorney’s office had displayed a clear antagonism towards Merchant’s document requests, suggesting that these requests were handled differently from others, which implied a deficiency in good faith.
Consequently, Willis is mandated to furnish all requested documents within 30 days and to compensate Merchant with $54,264, representing nearly 80 hours of work on the case, as stated in the court order, according to Newsweek. Merchant had earlier alleged that Willis’ office was withholding critical documents pertaining to Nathan Wade’s employment.
In a recent update, the Georgia Senate passed a bill in early March that could allow Trump and his co-defendants to seek reimbursement for their legal expenses. This legislation, which garnered unanimous support, enables counties to cover attorneys’ fees and other legal costs in instances where a district attorney is disqualified due to misconduct, provided that the case is dismissed, as reported by Newsweek.
In reaction to the court order issued on Friday, attorney Merchant conveyed on X: ‘I take pride in the judges who are willing to hold those in power accountable when they violate the law!’ Willis remarked in her January appeal: ‘No Georgia court has ever disqualified a district attorney solely based on the appearance of impropriety without an actual conflict of interest.’ The appeals court removed Willis from the case against Trump in December.
Although the court did not entirely dismiss Trump’s indictment, it determined that Willis and the assistant district attorneys in her office currently lack the ‘authority to proceed,’ as reported by Fox News. This represents the latest in a series of legal challenges faced by Willis.
In September, a Georgia judge ruled against her in a case concerning an open records lawsuit. Fulton County Judge Rachel Krause denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit regarding open records aimed at Willis and her office, although she did approve a motion that shields Willis from being personally named in the lawsuit, enabling her to continue her official responsibilities as district attorney.
The lawsuit stemmed from the Fulton County election interference investigation and involved Merchant, who alleged that Willis was withholding records related to a media monitoring firm purportedly funded by taxpayer money.
