(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Willis Asks McAfee to Cancel Hearing; Merchant Claims She Has Evidence - Which Raises A Question [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-02-04  

A WaPo story has just posted about actions taken Friday in the Georgia case against Trump et. al: Fani Willis is asking the judge to cancel the hearing, while Ashleigh Merchant, the defense lawyer making the accusations about Willis and Wade, says she has evidence. But does she? And if she does, is she required to show it to Willis before the hearing, so she can plan a response?

What happens next in Trump’s Georgia election interference case?

In her filing, Willis asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to cancel an evidentiary hearing on the accusations, saying that the relationship did not create a conflict of interest, did not financially benefit her and should not be used by those she says criminally conspired to try to overturn the 2020 election to evade justice. McAfee quickly turned to Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Trump co-defendant Mike Roman, and through his staff emailed her this request, Merchant told The Washington Post: File a response explaining why I should still hold that hearing.

Merchant did so:

Merchant did so late Friday, claiming to have evidence to dispute some of Willis’s assertions. She accused the prosecutors of trying to “escape accountability” in a case where “freedom and lives are at stake.”

But here’s the thing: Merchant filed subpoenas demanding the evidence only last Wednesday:

But a notice shared Wednesday with Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the case, shows that Ashleigh Merchant, Roman’s attorney, is seeking to call at least 10 other witnesses, including senior members of Willis’s staff and associates of Wade, to prove her client’s allegations of prosecutorial wrongdoing. She has subpoenaed financial records tied to Wade and his law firm as she seeks to back up her claims, including that Wade used his income as a special prosecutor to pay for vacations for him and Willis.

WIllis on Friday moved to quash the subpoenas, a move which, as the WaPo article points out, might require its own evidentiary hearing. In either case, it suggests to me that Merchant doesn’t have the evidence yet and is fishing for it.

A subpoena does require reasonable cause to believe that the evidence might be there, at least when filed by a prosecutor. So my question still stands: Is this a situation where one party, in this case a criminal defendant, have to share with the other party, in this case the prosecutor, any evidence it plans to bring to the trial — or in this case the hearing — so that the other side has the ability to prepare a proper response?

IANAL, but there are plenty of lawyers around here. So: what are the defense’s obligations here?

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/2/4/2221460/-Willis-Asks-McAfee-to-Cancel-Hearing-Merchant-Claims-She-Has-Evidence-Which-Raises-A-Question?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/