Partial Relief

By Ron Signore

It is no secret how I feel about Fani Willis. It takes guts, intellect, and skill to be able to bring the case to light that she is prosecuting against Cheeto Boy and his misfit co-defendants. To be blunt, I believe that the accusations and ensuing legal process by the defense are nothing short of hypocritical, but more importantly, disgusting.

Conceptually it always made no sense to me. A group of criminals being prosecuted for public corruption, for lack of better words, creating smoke around misconduct of a well-respected District Attorney. I always assumed it was just a familiar tactic from the Chump legal playbook of delaying everything as long as he can. He has made a history of that; we just see it very frequently now that he had 91 indictments originally brought against him. In fact, it sounds like he has influenced Matt Gaetz to utilize that play in his current battle.

This is where Katie Porter is 100% right. Our whole system, legal, government, et all, is very catered to those who can afford it. There is no doubt in my mind that people like you or me would be sitting in jail right now had we been accused and tried with the evidence prosecutors have against all parties involved in each case. It has become clear that it is not about an admission or denial of guilt, its just driving time until they can face accountability. Being in sales, it is a common notion that time kills all deals. Losing momentum may not be as critical overall, but public opinion is so easy to sway that anything that happens between now and then could alter the opinion of guilt or innocence.

Outside of natural legal battles behind the scenes around each charge, the hypocritical notion to allege misconduct of a respected District Attorney around something as irrelevant to the case as who and how she picked as lead attorney is just disgusting. I love the law, but sometimes we have a sense of misguidance to a notion of morality. I know that isn’t a basis for a law making out of a notion that could take away from the freedom on how people behave. However, I firmly believe we allow too big of a shield to protect the obviously guilty. It is a double-edged sword to protect citizens from overzealous prosecution and hindering of our rights.

In this country we say we are innocent until proven guilty, but public opinion completely dictates the opposite. It is psychological with a name being synonymous with being accused of something. In this case, we have a force to be reckoned with in DA Willis, who got notice that Judge McAfee ruled she will not be disqualified on the condition she severs ties with Lead Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade. Legally, I am not sure why. If judge McAfee found no misconduct worth disqualifying DA Willis, why does it matter who she has led the proceedings matter? I am sure the next step from the defense will be asking the same thing along with an appeal that Mr. Merchant guaranteed would happen should this be the ruling from McAfee. Queue up for the next delay.

Strategically speaking, what’s next for the good side? Is the team solid enough to insert a new attorney and not skip a beat or is that going to gear up another delay beyond the assumed appeal from the defense? I was specifically looking forward to Mr. Wade go to work on the defense. All jokes aside on the difference between categorizing the timing for the end of a romantic relationship as illustrated by DA Willis in her testimony (I am still laughing at the reality of that statement she made), Mr. Wade is an attorney who I felt was sharp, ambitious, and based on the information learned surrounding the dissolution of his partnership with Terrance Bradley, ethical. To be quite clear, I honestly thought this was an attempt to avoid him being lead prosecutor out of fear.

Again, I can see how the perception of a relationship in this instance a not so favorable perception could be, but I also believe it has nothing to do with the conduct prosecuting this case. Like any position of power anywhere, a relationship with someone who reports to you could always have that stereotypical perception. However, the concern of that perception in this scenario should only be relevant if there is a question of favoritism because of said relationship brought upon internally from the prosecuting team. To my knowledge, not one person in that office indicated an issue with this scenario and my guess is because despite knowing of this relationship, they felt it was a byproduct of two successful and strong people bonding over their careers.

As someone outside of situations, you learn a lot about people through how they handle adversity. For example, we know Bunker Boy is a liar, a cheat, and a cry baby through every legal ordeal we have observed that includes him. His consistent need to absolve himself from any wrongdoing shows how little accountability he takes. I would have more respect for a defense that was based around unknowingly breaking the law. That ship passed many years and legal cases ago for him.

The real victims in any of this are DA Willis and Mr. Wade. Specifically, to DA Willis, I would never believe she was a victim. She has proven herself to be a fighter. Like Braves legend, Hank Aaron, you can line them up, but she will knock it out of the park. The defense wanted to throw one high and tight, and she brushed it off and called her shot. The only thing the defense succeeded in really doing here was an attempt to publicly shame and defame two people. Things came out in these proceedings that were beyond unjust.

I am all for holding public officials to higher standards, but realistic ones. My interpretation of what came out was highly irrelevant, private information. A true witch hunt- in case the Orange Loser needs to really understand the definition of a term he throws around pretty liberally. All the defense did was allude that Wade and Willis’ right to privacy outside of the professional arena. They were driving at the idea that it was a crime to have any kind of relationship, romantic or not, before Willis appointed Wade.

The reality is in the real world, this is common. People find a bond, a happiness with people that are part of the same circle. In working with the legal market in my past, it was a frequent occurrence for colleagues, whether part of the same firm or not, to be involved. There is an understanding of life, a commonality of interest in their profession, and at the end of the day, consistent relationships build a trust and comfort with one another. Ironic that attorneys, specifically the Merchants, apart of the defense are actually married…In some ways it is apples to oranges, but let’s not fool ourselves, it is probably a similar situation.

The bottom line is we didn’t need either of their lives to be turned inside out by this. I want DA Willis and Nathan wade to be victorious in every aspect here. I am not one for frivolous lawsuits, but the defamation to both is unacceptable. I hope they fight that battle too. But the biggest battle is one I have faith in DA Willis and team. She will expose and hold these crooks accountable, and I cant wait to see it.

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