Fani Willis has a jury problem: Former prosecutor

It is going to be difficult for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to have a jury seated in time for Donald Trump’s RICO trial in Georgia, meaning the selection process could run into the presidential election, it has been claimed.

Prosecutors are seeking a trial date of August 5, 2024, just three months before the election. Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said any delays could cause a clash and spell trouble for Willis.

“Jury selection could eat up a good chunk of time here,” Vance wrote Monday in her legal blog, Civil Discourse. “It took Willis’ office almost ten months to pick a jury in the RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations] trial of the rapper Young Thug. That doesn’t bode well for a fast start with the Fulton County case.”

The rapper Jeffery Lamar Williams, known by the street name Young Thug, is on trial in Georgia for allegedly running an organized crime group.

Prosecutors said Williams’ street gang, YSL, or Young Slime Life, is affiliated with the Bloods gang in Los Angeles and that he oversaw crimes including murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, witness intimidation and drug dealing. Williams has pleaded not guilty and denied all charges. He was in prison for 567 days when his trial began on November 27, largely because of pre-trial legal wrangling and delays.

Willis is overseeing the case against Trump and was the first district attorney to bring charges against Trump. An Atlanta indictment unsealed in August accused Trump and 18 other defendants—including Rudy Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark, former Georgia Republican Chairman David Shafer and Kenneth Chesebro, a former Trump attorney—of a large-scale conspiracy to steal the 2020 election.

Of the 19 indicted, four, including Chesebro, have accepted plea deals and agreed to testify if needed.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 13 counts he faces. Newsweek reached out to Trump’s attorney via email on Monday for comment.

Joyce said that the Georgia trial could also be pushed back by a delay in Trump’s election fraud case in Washington, D.C, where the judge has halted the case while it is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Additionally, there will be an “almost certain” delay to Trump’s classified documents case in Florida, which is due to begin in May, Vance wrote on Monday.

Willis said in November that the Georgia trial might continue past Inauguration Day on January 20, 2025, which may allow Trump to delay the case by claiming to the Supreme Court that it is interfering with his presidential duties.

Apart from jury selection, any delay in Trump’s Washington and Florida cases could delay the Georgia case even further and make it more likely that it will continue past Inauguration Day.

“The real question here is whether the proposed August trial date could shift forward in light of potential delay in D.C. and almost certain delay in [Trump’s classified documents case in] Florida,” Vance wrote. “Fani Willis means business. Judge Scott McAfee is a former federal prosecutor. They both know how to move a case forward to trial. The schedule here is worth keeping an eye on.”