![Georgia court schedules hearing on Oct. 4 to determine if Fulton DA should continue on Trump case Georgia court schedules hearing on Oct. 4 to determine if Fulton DA should continue on Trump case](https://i2.wp.com/www.ajc.com/resizer/Zr0B0qocR3fr7niBVCa-Jr031-Q=/1200x630/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/ajc/37WFUAECQJA6VOABAS6WPDHM2A.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1)
Credit: KeynoteUSA
Credit: KeynoteUSA
Chief Justice Yvette Miller was initially assigned to the three-judge panel, but she recused herself from the case and was replaced by Brown. Miller is the first Black woman to serve on the appeals court and was appointed by former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes. It was not immediately clear why Miller stepped aside, but she will retire at the end of the year.
The three judges who will hear the case served as trial judges before being appointed to the appeals court:
- Markle, who was appointed to the court by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2018, is a former Fulton County Superior Court judge.
- Land, who was appointed to the position two years ago by Gov. Brian Kemp, is a former Superior Court judge of the six-county Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit in western Georgia.
- Brown, appointed by Deal in 2018, served as a Superior Court judge for the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit, eight counties in central Georgia.
The three-judge panel will most likely hear arguments on this appeal, although the vast majority of cases it hears are decided without oral arguments.
Marietta attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Mike Roman, one of Trump’s 14 remaining co-defendants in organized crime. case, said he will ask the court to hear oral arguments. In a filing in January, Merchant was the first defense attorney in the case to request Willis’ disqualification.
The panel is not expected to issue a decision before voters cast their ballots in this fall’s presidential election.
The Georgia Constitution requires that the matter must be decided within two court terms, meaning the justices would have to rule by mid-March 2025. The justices may agree to speed up the timeline, but most Cases are decided approximately eight and a half months after they are first placed on the docket, according to court observers.
ExploreThe latest on the Georgia case against Trump
The appeals court is one of the busiest of its kind in the country. Its 15 members are nonpartisan and elected to staggered six-year terms, although most current members were appointed by sitting governors and subsequently re-elected.
The announcement came shortly after the Fulton Superior Court clerk sent thousands of pages of background documents to the appeals court. Among the documents transmitted: copies of the indictment, bail orders for the nine defendants who requested the appeal, previous court records and rulings by Judge Scott McAfee. The court also sent transcripts of the February evidentiary hearing that included sworn testimony from Willis and Nathan Wade, the former special prosecutor whose romantic relationship with the district attorney prompted the defendants to remove the entire office from the case.
ExploreTimeline of accusations against Fulton DA Fani Willis
McAfee issued a ruling in March allowing Willis to remain on the case if Wade left the prosecution. Wade wrote his resignation letter that day, but that did not satisfy the defendants, who said Willis still had a conflict of interest that justified his dismissal. They appealed McAfee’s ruling, and the appeals court agreed last month to take up the matter.
The panel will not gather new evidence. Instead, it will determine whether McAfee reached the correct legal conclusions.
In a statement, Trump’s top attorney in Atlanta, Steve Sadow, said he looked forward to making arguments before the three judges about why Willis should be removed from the case.
[fifu]
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