DA Fani Willis appeals her disqualification from Trump’s Georgia election interference case
Megan Varner for The Washington Post via Getty Images
(ATLANTA) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Wednesday filed an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court asking them to reverse her disqualification from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others.
The Georgia Court of Appeals last month disqualified Willis from her prosecution of Trump and his co-defendants due to a “significant appearance of impropriety,” leaving the question of who takes over the case — and whether it continues — to the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia.
In her filing Wednesday, Willis argued that the appeals court “erred” when it disqualified her from the case based only on the appearance of a conflict of interest, which stemmed from her relationship with a prosecutor on the case.
“No Georgia court has ever disqualified a district attorney for the mere appearance of impropriety without the existence of an actual conflict of interest,” the filing stated, asking the higher court to review the decision.
The filing also claimed the lower court’s opinion was an “overreach” and “created a new standard for disqualification” that it did not have the authority to enact.
“The opinion ignored precedent and created a new, mechanical standard for disqualification uniquely applicable to public prosecutors, usurping authority properly reserved to this Court while ensuring confusion and uncertainty to follow,” the filing stated.
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last year to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Four defendants subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
The case has been on pause while Trump and his co-defendants have pursued Willis’ disqualification.
Luigi Mangione is seen inside the police station in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Dec. 9, 2024/Obtained by ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is expected to waive extradition when he appears in court in Pennsylvania on Thursday, sources told ABC News.
In Pennsylvania, Mangione faces charges including allegedly possessing an untraceable ghost gun.
In New York, he faces charges including second-degree murder. Mangione has hired Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former member of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, as his lawyer in New York.
His court appearance is set for 9 a.m. Thursday.
Mangione was apprehended at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 9 after nearly one week on the run. He’s accused of gunning down Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4 as the CEO headed to an investors conference.
“Just a cold-blooded, horrible killing,” President-elect Donald Trump said at a news conference Monday.
Thompson’s murder ignited online anger at the health insurance industry. Many people online have celebrated the suspect and some have donated to a defense fund for Mangione.
“It’s really terrible that some people seem to admire him, like him,” Trump said.
“It seems that there’s a certain appetite for him. I don’t get it,” Trump added.
Sources said writings police seized from Mangione suggest he was fixated on UnitedHealthcare for months and gradually developed a plan to kill the CEO.
Among the writings recovered from Mangione was a passage that allegedly said, “What do you do? You whack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention,” according to law enforcement officials.
Neither Mangione nor his parents received insurance through UnitedHealthcare, the company said.
FBI agents and NYPD detectives spoke to Mangione’s mother the day before his Dec. 9 arrest after San Francisco police informed them she had filed a missing persons report and Mangione’s photo seemed to match the suspect photo, law enforcement sources told ABC News. Mangione’s mother told the New York investigators that the person in the widely shared surveillance images could be her 26-year-old son, sources said.
In these booking photos taken Oct. 10, 2024, Erik and Lyle Menendez are shown. Via CRDC.
(LOS ANGELES) — The Los Angeles County district attorney met with the Menendez brothers’ relatives on Friday, but said he is still reviewing the facts in the case and hasn’t yet decided if he’s in support of the brothers’ bid for freedom.
LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said that when he came into office on Dec. 3, he promised to review all the facts in Erik and Lyle Menendez’s case. He said that effort has involved reviewing thousands of pages of confidential prison records, trial transcripts, speaking to all the prosecutors and defense attorneys involved and reviewing court filings.
Hochman said that effort continues, noting that he’s not finished reviewing all the prison files from the brothers’ decades behind bars.
Over 20 Menendez relatives met with Hochman on Friday in their continued push for the brothers’ release from prison.
Hochman described the conversation as “very productive” and “in some ways, an informal, off-the-record discussion.”
“They gave me all their thoughts about what should happen, their experiences they wanted to share, the ultimate direction they wanted this case to go,” he said.
Hochman did not reveal the details of the conversation.
In a brief address to reporters, Anamaria Baralt, cousin of the Menendez brothers, spoke out after the family’s meeting with Hochman Friday afternoon.
“We did have a meeting with the district attorney and we’re grateful for his time,” she said in a statement. “I want to reiterate our position as a family and as the victims’ families that this 35-year process has been incredibly traumatizing for us as I’m sure that you can all imagine.”
She said she the family was hoping to see an immediate release of the brothers, saying that going before a parole board “will only serve to re-traumatize us.”
The previous district attorney, George Gascón, announced in October that he was recommending the brothers’ sentence of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
The DA’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison, and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Weeks after Gascón’s announcement, he lost his race for reelection to Hochman.
Erik and Lyle Menendez next appear in court for a hearing in the resentencing case on Jan. 30 and Jan. 31.
This comes on the heels of an attorney for the brothers petitioning to move the case from the DA’s office to the California Attorney General’s Office, claiming a conflict of interest between Hochman and Kathleen Cady, whom Hoch just appointed director of the department’s Bureau of Victim Services.
Cady recently resigned as attorney for Milton Anderson, the one Menendez relative who has been pushing to keep the brothers in prison.
Hochman said Friday that Cady is “walled off from the Menendez case.”
Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted in 1996 of the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, who they gunned down in the family’s Beverly Hills home.
The defense claimed the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father, but prosecutors alleged they killed for money.
Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were 21 and 18 at the time of the crime, respectively, were sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.
Besides the resentencing, the brothers have been pursuing two other paths to freedom.
In 2023, the brothers filed a habeas corpus petition for a review of new evidence not presented at trial.
They also submitted a request for clemency to California Gov. Gavin Newsom. In November, Newsom said he’d defer to Hochman’s “review and analysis of the Menendez case prior to making any clemency decisions.”
ABC News’ Amanda M. Morris contributed to this report.
(MIAMI) — A tree trimmer died after getting caught in a wood chipper while trimming trees at a town hall near Miami, officials said.
The incident occurred at approximately 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning when the Ocean Ridge Police Department responded to Ocean Ridge Town Hall — some 60 miles north of Miami — for “an accident involving one employee from a contracted tree trimming vendor,” according to a statement from the town of Ocean Ridge on social media.
“Upon arrival, Ocean Ridge officers found one person had died from injuries sustained in the accident,” officials said. No other individuals on scene sustained injuries.
Officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) were immediately notified and were en route to the scene, according to the town of Ocean Ridge.
The identity of the victim has not yet been disclosed by authorities.
The investigation is currently ongoing at this time and Boynton Beach Fire Rescue is providing grief counseling to town employees and vendor staff, officials said.
