Attorney John Merchant, who represents defendant Mike Roman, kicked off the hearing by saying District Attorney Fani Willis had admitted to receiving a financial benefit through her personal relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Merchant said there’s at least $9,200 worth of benefit that Willis received through the relationship, which can’t be explained away. He said Willis, as the lead prosecutor in the case, is “supposed to be disinterested, and she’s anything but that.”
“They began this relationship in 2019,” Merchant said of Willis and Wade. “They were dating for two years. And then she awarded him a contract where public money ended up in his pockets.”
Merchant said he “couldn’t care less” if Willis and Wade’s relationship happened outside the scope of their work. The fact that Willis “set up a prosecutorial relationship with her boyfriend” is enough to have her disqualified, he said.
“They did this. They knew it was wrong. They hid it,” he told the judge. “You have to pay attention to what this looks like to the public. If this court allows this kind of behavior to go on … the entire public confidence in the system will be shot and the integrity of the system will be undermined.”
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