Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has made quite a name for herself in the headlines recently, and not in a good way.
Willis is attempting to put former President Donald Trump and 18 other co-defendants on trial at the same time next month on October 23 in the 2020 election racketeering case that was originally filed in August.
Although this could potentially be a historic first, with a leading presidential candidate being convicted of criminal activity before the election, many Republican voters and other critics have spoken out against Willis’ plans, accusing her of targeting Trump for political purposes.
Lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, who were indicted with Trump, have petitioned a court to have their cases severed from the others and tried separately.
Judge Scott McAfee will oversee an upcoming hearing to determine whether or not this can be done.
Judge McAfee has asked Willis’ office to prove how long it would take them to present their case during a joint trial of all 19 defendants, as well as how many witnesses would likely be called and what evidence they plan on introducing.
Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman suggested that no matter what estimate is given by Willis’ office regarding the length of time it may take to present their case during a joint trial of all 19 defendants, there will still be problems due to her previous major RICO trial involving dozens of educators in Atlanta accused of cheating on standardized tests lasting several months.
According to Litman, if she provides an estimate similar to that one then “everything gets blown apart,” whereas questions will arise if she doesn’t since it wouldn’t make sense for this one involving Trump to be so much shorter.
Meanwhile, Trump already has three upcoming trials in 2024.
