2024 Could Turn on Smell of Selective Prosecution from Georgia to New York

 The Odor of Mendacity: 2024 Could Turn on Smell of Selective Prosecution from Georgia to New York – JONATHAN TURLEY   . . ."Below is my column in the Hill on the recent decision in Georgia and the “odor of mendacity” rising out of various courtrooms across the country.  It is the smell of not just selective prosecution but political bias in our legal system. It is becoming harder to deny the existence of a two-track system of justice in the country as commentators and even a few courts raise concerns over the role of politics in prosecutions." . . .

AfterMath - Home (terrellaftermath.com)

Mendacity - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms | Vocabulary.com  Anyone in the habit of lying frequently has the characteristic of mendacity. People often accuse government officials of mendacity, or being less than honest. You're bound to get frustrated by the mendacity of your friend who's a pathological liar. Mendacity comes from the Latin root word mendacium, or "lie." Don't confuse mendacity with a similar-sounding word, audacity — which means "fearlessness, daring, or bravery."

Ethics complaints? Targeting law license? Troubles lie in wait for Georgia DA Fani Willis; WSJ    "Fani Willis is a lucky prosecutor, and Donald Trump is a lucky defendant to have her on his case. The Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney survived a judicial probe into her ethics on Friday, but in such a way that she has poisoned her own case. As the judge put it, “an odor of mendacity remains” around her actions.

"That was the ruling Friday by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who said the prosecution of Mr. Trump for trying to overturn Georgia’s election results can continue but either Ms. Willis or her romantic partner, prosecutor Nathan Wade, had to step aside from the case. The breakup is necessary to prevent the “appearance of impropriety” created by financial arrangements in their relationship. Mr. Wade resigned later on Friday.

"Judge McAfee said Mr. Trump’s legal team failed to clear the high bar of proving that Ms. Willis’s relationship with Mr. Wade (and the vacations he paid for) were an “actual” conflict of interest under Georgia law. Ms. Willis said she repaid Mr. Wade for her half of the trips. While that reimbursement practice may be “unusual,” the judge wrote, it is “not so incredible as to be inherently unbelievable.”

"But Judge McAfee was withering in his assessment of Ms. Willis’s conduct and her defense of it. The finding is “by no means an indication that the Court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the District Attorney’s testimony,“ Judge McAfee writes. The record “highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team.” . . .

Ethics complaints? Targeting law license? Troubles lie in wait for Georgia DA Fani Willis (msn.com)   . . ."Crucially, Judge Scott McAfee didn't actually conclude Willis had perjured herself, nor that she received a material financial benefit from hiring or dating Wade. However, he said reasonable people "could easily be left to wonder" whether Willis resumed a romantic relationship with Wade or was receiving financial benefits unless one of them stepped aside. Wade resigned later on Friday.

"The Georgia case alleges that Trump and 18 co-defendants — four of whom have taken plea deals — participated in a multi-pronged conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election.

"While Willis can still prosecute the case following the ruling, she may well face challenges to her law license at the State Bar of Georgia — even if experts don't expect those challenges to succeed based on existing evidence. She could also have to deal with other state regulators. Even before the decision, a conservative group asked the State Bar to open disciplinary proceedings against both Willis and Wade." . . .