Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office have been ordered to pay more than $54,000 within a month due to a lawsuit alleging violations of Georgia's Open Records Act. The legal action, initiated by defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant of the Merchant Law Firm, stems from requests for records related to the investigation of former President Donald Trump and his associates' alleged interference in the 2020 election. Merchant represents Michael Roman, a Trump campaign staff member who was charged in the case, as reported by Fox 5 Atlanta.
The office's non-compliance with the Open Records Act was detailed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause who found the office had failed to properly respond to record requests, failing to both identify and provide the requested records within the three business days mandated by state statute, as described by WSB-TV's coverage of the lawsuit, furthermore the office's communication style, described as 'openly hostile' to Merchant, was different from how they handled other requests which indicates a "lack of good faith."
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, this legal scuffle is the latest in a series of controversies surrounding Willis, who has already been disqualified from prosecuting the high-profile case against Trump and his co-defendants. The judge's decision specifies that Willis must turn over all pertinent records within the same 30-day period — without redaction, alteration, deletion, or modification — except where necessary to protect sensitive information under state law; the open records dispute between Willis' office and Merchant reportedly originates from the latter's open records requests regarding special prosecutor Nathan Wade and his financial connections to the DA's office.
In the wake of Judge Krause's ruling, the DA's office was not only slapped with the hefty financial penalty but also instructed to certify under oath their compliance with the order, which includes a comprehensive search through all employee emails and files for relevant documents, and if they do not fully comply, Merchant could be entitled to additional attorney’s fees and expenses, a move to which the Fulton County DA’s Office declared their intention to appeal, as noted by WSB-TV. Merchant herself took to the internet with a statement, boastfully proclaiming her pride in "judges willing to hold people in power accountable when they ignore the law."
