Fulton County DA Willis hearing: Who is attorney Ashleigh Merchant?
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ disqualification hearing on Feb. 15, 2024. (FOX 5)
ATLANTA - After the first day of the hearing to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Wade and her office from prosecuting former President Donald Trump and his supporters in the Georgia election interference case, many people are expressing curiosity about the attorney who is primarily responsible for the hearing.
DAY 1 OF HEARING: Nathan Wade’s relationship topic of fiery testimony during hearing
Trump co-defendant Michael Roman and his attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, filed a motion in early January seeking the removal of Willis and dismissal of the indictment in the case.
Merchant, 46, is a well-known criminal defense attorney in metro Atlanta who runs her own law firm, The Merchant Law Firm, with her husband, John Merchant III, who is also an attorney. She is also president of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
According to the bio on her website, Merchant, who is originally from Clearwater, Florida, is a "natural human rights advocate and firm believer in defending the rights of the criminally accused." Upon graduation from law school, she accepted a position at the Metro Conflict Defender where she defended individuals facing charges in Fulton County. She then worked for the Fulton County Public Defender's Office and Southern Center for Human Rights. Merchant defended individuals accused of serious crimes, including rape, aggravated child molestation,aggravated sodomy, armed robbery, carjacking, drug trafficking, child abuse, vehicular homicide, serious injury by vehicle, and murder.
Prior to this case, Merchant was best known for successfully defending the man, Ryan Duke, charged with killing former beauty queen-turned-history teacher Tara Grinstead in 2005.
In an interview with the New York Post, Merchant said that she is a "proactive defense lawyer as opposed to a reactive defense lawyer."
She said she started poking around a divorce filing by Wade's then-estranged wife, Joycelyn, and found information that led her to believe Willis and Wade might have financially benefited from Wade's appointment as special prosecutor in the election interference case.
Timeline: Fulton County DA Fani Willis, Nathan Wade controversy
Willis accused Merchant of lying several times during her testimony on Thursday.
"It is ridiculous to me that you lied ... and yet here we still are," Willis said. "It seems today like a lawyer writes a lie then it's printed for all the world to see."
At another point, Willis responded, "That's a lie, that's one of your lies."
And in the most dramatic scene of them all, Willis began raised her arms holding papers in both hands and shouted: "Let's be clear because you've lied. It is a lie! It is a lie!"
Prior to this week's hearing, Willis filed a 176-page response as ordered by the court.
In that document, Willis included several examples of Merchant showing support for both Wade in the past.
In 2016, Merchant apparently made several Facebook posts supporting Nathan Wade's candidacy for judge in Cobb County. However, in the motion filed on Jan. 8, Merchant alleged that Wade was not qualified to be the special prosecutor on the election interference case.
That was also the year that Merchant stumbled across a security video of a Cobb County judge chatting with two assistant district attorneys, giving them advice on trail strategy and feeling them out on other cases, according to Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The judge expressed his opinion on the guilt of a defendant before a trial, which is something a judge generally should not do. Merchant used the recording as the basis for an appeal.