Long before the FBI began investigating Donald Trump 's hoarding of classified documents or Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special prosecutor to probe the former president, Fani Willis was at work.Just one month after Trump's infamous January 2021 phone call to suggest Georgia's secretary of state could overturn his election loss, the Fulton County district attorney announced she was looking into possible illegal 맥스카지노�attempts to influence맥스카지노� the results in what has become one of America's premier political battlegrounds. As she built her case, Willis called a parade of high-profile witnesses before a special grand jury, presiding over an investigation that was so public it seemed she would become the first prosecutor in U.S. history to indict a former president.She instead became the third person to levy criminal charges against Trump, leapfrogged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith. But the indictment Willis brought late Monday against Trump and 18 associates was the most sprawling case detailing the former president's desperate efforts to remain in power after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.맥스카지노�Their indictment alleges that rather than abide by Georgia맥스카지노�s legal process for election challenges the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia맥스카지노�s presidential election result,맥스카지노� Willis said in announcing the charges.Video above: Get the Facts: Georgia election interferenceTrump stepped up his criticism of Willis in advance of the charges, calling the 52-year-old Black woman 맥스카지노�a young woman, a young racist in Atlanta.맥스카지노�Willis has long declined to comment on Trump맥스카지노�s insults. But with his campaign running a vicious attack ad last week, she emailed her staff to warn that it included 맥스카지노�derogatory and false information맥스카지노� about her and instructed them not to react publicly.맥스카지노�You may not comment in any way on the ad or any of the negativity that may be expressed against me, your colleagues, this office in coming days, weeks or months,맥스카지노� she wrote. 맥스카지노�We have no personal feelings against those we investigate or prosecute and we should not express any. This is business, it will never be personal.맥스카지노�Willis has led plenty of prominent prosecutions, but nothing that compares to indicting a former president, particularly one who fights his perceived enemies with the intensity of Trump. She used Georgia맥스카지노�s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, law to charge not only the former president but also a collection of his allies for alleged participation in a wide-ranging conspiracy.Some people who end up facing charges may challenge the indictment based on the fact that they were compelled to testify before the special grand jury in an investigation in which they ended up being a target. In the federal system, prosecutors are required to seek approval from senior-level officials before issuing a subpoena to a target and, in the interest of fairness, are urged to pursue alternatives to compelling a target's testimony. But the special grand jury was an investigative tool and lacked the power to indict.Willis spent most of her career as an assistant district attorney in Fulton County and is known by both her colleagues and defense attorneys to be a tremendously talented litigator with a gift for connecting with juries. A few years after leaving that office, she returned as its leader in January 2021 after winning a bitter Democratic primary fight to oust her predecessor and former mentor.Video above: Explaining Donald Trump's Georgia indictmentWillis was raised mostly in Washington by her father, a defense attorney who she has said was a Black Panther. She graduated from Howard University and from Emory University School of Law four years later, choosing to stay on in Atlanta to practice law.맥스카지노�She맥스카지노�s really a tough-on-crime liberal, which is kind of a rare bird these days, but I think that맥스카지노�s her brand,맥스카지노� said Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis.Some critics say she overuses gang and RICO laws, unnecessarily complicating cases that could otherwise be tried in less time with fewer resources, just to get the enhanced penalties those statutes carry. Devin Franklin, an attorney for the Southern Center for Human Rights who spent 12 years in the Fulton County public defender맥스카지노�s office before leaving last year, said using those laws drives a 맥스카지노�narrative of violence in Atlanta that맥스카지노�s not true, that's not necessarily reflected in the data맥스카지노� and has a tendency to 맥스카지노�sensationalize the cases.맥스카지노�It is also taking too long for people to be indicted after they맥스카지노�ve been arrested, he said, leaving them languishing in terrible conditions at the county jail, which is currently under federal investigation. People are left 맥스카지노�in a position where they can맥스카지노�t force a trial, they can맥스카지노�t plead out and if they have a bond they can맥스카지노�t pay, they맥스카지노�re effectively stuck in the Fulton County system with no legitimate recourse,맥스카지노� Franklin said. To illustrate the problem, he pointed to the death earlier this month of a 40-year-old man who was arrested on a second-degree burglary charge in October and was being held on $3,000 bond.Of the 3,571 people in custody in Fulton County on Friday, 1,683, or 47%, had not yet been indicted. Franklin suggested that Willis맥스카지노� office should move more quickly to indict people facing serious charges. For lower-level felony charges, he said, her office could proceed by "accusation,맥스카지노� which doesn맥스카지노�t require a formal indictment.Trump has recently called Atlanta a 맥스카지노�crime-ridden맥스카지노� city where 맥스카지노�people are afraid to walk outside.맥스카지노� While it맥스카지노�s true that Atlanta, like most other major cities, saw a spike in violent crime in recent years, those levels have improved significantly. As of Aug. 5, homicides were down 25%, rapes had dropped by 56% and aggravated assaults had decreased by 22% compared with the same time last year, according to Atlanta police data.Willis has said she likes the RICO statute because it allows prosecutors to paint a more complete picture of the alleged illegal activity.Her most prominent case as an assistant district attorney was a RICO prosecution against a group of Atlanta public school educators accused in a scheme to inflate students맥스카지노� standardized test scores. After a seven-month trial, a jury in April 2015 convicted 11 of them on the racketeering charge.Since becoming district attorney, she has brought several RICO cases, some against well-known rappers. The first of those cases to go to trial has been tied up in jury selection since January and is expected to last six to nine months once testimony gets underway.Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP and an Atlanta defense attorney who represented an educator in the test cheating case, said he doesn맥스카지노�t always agree with Willis맥스카지노� use of the RICO law but does think it맥스카지노�s appropriate 맥스카지노�if there was a scheme to interfere in the election and numerous actors were involved.맥스카지노� But he thinks the investigation has dragged on far too long and that an unwieldy RICO indictment that scoops up too many people risks causing an undue strain on the overburdened court system.맥스카지노�Charge the top individuals that did it," he said. 맥스카지노�Maybe pass out immunity deals to everyone else to testify. Let맥스카지노�s get the top 10, then let맥스카지노�s move forward.맥스카지노�Willis has urged patience from the beginning of her investigation and is fond of saying she doesn맥스카지노�t try 맥스카지노�skinny cases,맥스카지노� meaning she likes to have lots of evidence. And Rucker, her former colleague, said he맥스카지노�s not surprised the investigation has stretched on so long, saying the two of them worked every day for almost two years to prepare for the school cheating case.While she맥스카지노�s likely to let her hand-picked group of prosecutors handle the trial, there맥스카지노�s no question she맥스카지노�s calling the shots, Rucker said. With a case of this magnitude, she would have required those on her team to gather and digest an enormous amount of information and would have grilled them to make sure there were no holes, he said.맥스카지노�When she says stuff like, 맥스카지노�We맥스카지노�re ready to go,맥스카지노� that맥스카지노�s not being braggadocious,맥스카지노� Rucker said. 맥스카지노�It맥스카지노�s her saying pretty much to anybody who맥스카지노�s interested, 맥스카지노�Look, we맥스카지노�re ready.맥스카지노�맥스카지노�