If you thought the soap opera known as the Donald Trump trial in Fulton County couldn’t be topped for best dramatic performance in a Greek tragedy after “special” prosecutor Nathan Wade sang the love song of D.A. Fani Willis, think again.
Sure, the ongoing saga of a district attorney who campaigned on a platform of bringing integrity to an office known for the person in charge having sexual shenanigans with his employees got caught having an affair with one of her employees in a case of delicious irony, but the interest has abated to some degree because the trial is currently on hold, waiting on an appeal to have Willis formally removed from the case.
After all, when you pay one of your top employees almost a million dollars, far more than warranted for his experience, and he reciprocates your romantic interest by taking you on a series of expensive vacations paid with taxpayer dollars for the exorbitant salary you gave him, you do open yourself to scrutiny, not to mention possible disbarment proceedings in your future. D.A. Willis plays a smaller role in the new smash hit drama playing on Fulton County televisions, popularly known as the Young Thug RICO trial.
Judge Ural Glanville is the presiding judge, and he just told the whole world, “Hold my beer!” Fani must have been getting too much attention in the press for Judge Glanville’s taste, so he just torpedoed the case against Jeffery Lamar Williams, a.k.a. Young Thug, by holding an ex parte meeting with prosecutors and one of the witnesses, a man named Kenneth “Lil Woody” Copeland. During this meeting Copeland allegedly confessed to murdering Donovan “Nut” Thomas Jr.
Ex parte is a Latin phrase that means “one-sided, or for one side only.” Georgia rules and regulations 616-1-2-.10 reads as follows:
1. Once a case is before the Court, no person shall communicate with the assigned Judge relating to the merits of the case without the knowledge and consent of all other parties to the matter, provided that: (a) the Judge may communicate with other Judges relating to the merits of cases at any time; or(b) where circumstances require, ex parte communications are authorized for scheduling, administrative purposes, or emergencies that do not deal with substantive matters or issues on the merits, provided that1. the Judge reasonably believes that no party will gain procedural or tactical advantage as a result of the ex parte communication; and 2. the Judge makes provision to promptly notify all other parties of the substance of the ex parte communication and allows an opportunity to respond.(2) Should a Judge receive a communication prohibited by this Rule, he or she shall notify all parties of the receipt of such communication and its content.
Clearly, Judge Glanville violated Georgia 616-1-2-.10. The ex parte meeting between Glanville, the prosecutors, and witness Copeland was not about scheduling, for administrative purposes, or to deal with an emergency. The alleged purpose of the meeting was allegedly for prosecutors to coerce and intimidate Copeland into giving false testimony against Young Thug. Witness intimidation is never a good thing.
Steel confronted Judge Glanville in the courtroom (and in front of television cameras), the judge didn’t concede his mistake. Instead, he blew a gasket and doubled down, demanding to know how Steel had found out about the illegal meeting. And when Steel refused to divulge his source, Glanville held him in criminal contempt of court and sentenced him to twenty days in jail, to be served on weekends. To be fair, as a small consolation when Steel asked to serve his time in the same cell with his client, Glanville agreed to that condition.
While I’m neither a lawyer nor a psychic (nor do I play one on television or YouTube), it isn’t difficult to predict this trial will end in a mistrial. Ashleigh Merchant, the same defense attorney who brought the Willis/Wade affair to the public’s attention, joined with Steel’s wife to file an immediate supersedeas bond to the Georgia Court of Appeals, which the Georgia Supreme Court granted, at least temporarily sparing Steel from the injustice of spending Father’s Day in jail.
The word supersedeas is a legal term that means the execution of a judgment is stayed while an appeal is pending. However, it doesn’t take a psychic to predict the Georgia Supreme Court is going to have a field day when it hears Steel’s appeal. There will probably be the judicial equivalent directed back to Judge Glanville that says in effect, “What were you thinking?” Perhaps an even better question to Judge Glanville would be, “Were you thinking at all?”
His response was what you might expect from a power mad, emotionally unstable person given terrible powers over his fellow citizens, not a reasoned, stable arbiter of justice. No sane or reasonable Georgian (this includes me) would think Young Thug could get a fair trial from Judge Glanville after all this nonsense has transpired.
There are many differences between Young Thug and Donald Trump: Young Thug is a rapper and allegedly a drug dealer, gang leader, and murderer. Donald Trump has been charged with election fraud, solicitation of violation of oath, and conspiracy to change the outcome of an election as part of a “criminal enterprise.”
Both men share the following in common: RICO charges brought by D.A. Fani Willis, and attorney Ashleigh Merchant putting a stop to some extra-legal shenanigans. Of course, the charges against Donald Trump are nothing more than trumped-up charges by a corrupt, hyperpartisan D.A., and the charges against Young Thug may or may not have had a basis in reality but they do share one very important trait in common — both cases will add to Fani Willis’ embarrassment. She is a racist and misandrist who pathetically keeps trying to play the victim card. She should be disbarred and criminally charged with election interference.
Frankly, I don’t know enough about the Young Thug case to have formed an opinion about his guilt or innocence. I do know this trial can no longer end with a conviction with this judge presiding. A mistrial must be declared.
I also know the Fulton County court system has been made a laughingstock once again, thanks in part to Fani Willis, with a (dis)honorable mention going to Ural Glanville.
I would say if I ever got in trouble with the law, I hope it happens in Fulton County because this clown show would have trouble getting a conviction for Ted Bundy, but I wouldn’t want to spend any significant time in the local jail there. More than two dozen inmates have died in custody at the Fulton County Jail within the past two years.
Yikes!
John Leonard is a freelance writer. He blogs at southernprose.com. His books can be found at LeonardBooks.net.
Image: Frank Schwichtenberg via Wikipedia
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