x
Breaking News
More () »

District attorney employee testifies over payment documents to media monitoring company in open records dispute involving Fani Willis

Attorney Ashleigh Merchant has accused Willis of "hiding documents" related to a media monitoring company, alleging the district attorney used taxpayer dollars.

ATLANTA — Editor's Note: For a recap of Thursday's proceedings, click here.

A court evidentiary hearing over an open records dispute involving Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis continued with testimony from an employee in her office on Friday.

Defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant has accused Willis of "hiding documents" related to a media monitoring company, alleging the district attorney used taxpayer dollars to pay for it. In a court filing earlier this week, she asked a judge to enforce a subpoena and compel Willis to testify at Thursday's hearing under threat of contempt.

Merchant also represents Michael Roman in the ongoing Fulton County 2020 election interference case.

"We have a right to know where that money goes; It doesn't have to be related to any case -- I can just be curious. I'm a taxpayer," Merchant said at Thursday's hearing.

Friday's proceedings continued with testimony from Dexter Bond Jr., the operations deputy at the Fulton County district attorney's office. 

Merchant finished questioning Bond, during which she reviewed emails viewed the day before regarding communications with the media monitoring company. The emails included several quotes for service, invoices, payments allegedly made to the company and communications with the company.

The defense was also able to question the witness about how the documents were produced and whether any other documents existed.

Willis could still be subpoenaed in the dispute. On Thursday, the judge did not rule on Merchant's request to compel Willis to testify, and the DA did not appear in court.

County lawyers claimed that subpoenas haven't been properly served and that the Merchant Law Firm is harassing the district attorney and her office. 

The next hearing in this case will be on Oct. 2 at noon, where the defense plans to question Merchant.

You can watch Friday's proceedings on YouTube in the player below.

Before You Leave, Check This Out