Fani Willis Suffers Legal Blow

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been hit with a lawsuit by an Atlanta lawmaker regarding her handling of an alleged stalking complaint.

State Representative Mesha Mainor, who made headlines in July 2023 when she switched from the Democrat Party to the Republican Party, filed a lawsuit against Willis, as well as Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington, the Fulton County Ethics Board and the county, claiming they harmed her as the victim of the alleged stalker.

Willis is prosecuting former President Donald Trump and 18 others over allegedly trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. She recently was embroiled in a scandal pertaining to a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor she hired in the case.

Newsweek has contacted Willis's office by email for comment.

Mainor is seeking emotional and monetary damages over the handling an alleged stalking complaint against Corwin Monson. In the complaint, filed on February 23, Mainor said Monson, a former staffer on her campaign, stalked her beginning in 2019 after he was fired from his volunteer position on her campaign for "unruly, belligerent behavior."

The court filing said he showed up at campaign events, her church, sat outside her home, left her multiple voicemails and "proposed to her" in front of her children. This led her to file a temporary restraining order against him, the filing said. She said he violated the order, leading to his arrest in September 2019 and September 2020.

She said Monson then hired Arrington as his defense attorney. The filing said she believes Arrington "is a close friend and associate" of Monson and claimed Arrington used this friendship.

"Commissioner Arrington used his influence to circumvent the office policies of the District Attorney's office, including intimidating the ADAs by copying the District Attorney on emails, negotiating plea deals directly with the District Attorney instead of the ADAs, and demanding meetings with the District Attorney when ADAs refused to bend to his will," Mainor's complaint said.

It added that Arrington told her about the case prior to her being sworn in as district attorney and "used his influence to bias Ms. Willis against Plaintiff Mainor." He then resigned as Monson's attorney in December 2020 after recorded phone calls between Arrington and Monson surfaced publicly.

The filing said Willis failed to properly investigate Monson's charged and offered him plea deals that were not in keeping with victim rights laws.

"DA Willis did dismiss one of his aggravated stalking cases," according to Mainor's complaint. "On the remaining aggravated stalking case, DA Willis offered Monson a plea of 3 years, to serve 1 in prison, the balance on probation, with credit for the time he had already served. Plaintiff Mainor was not informed of the plea deal extended to Mr. Monson prior to him accepting, which is a violation of the Georgia Crime Victims Bill of Rights.

"The Fulton County District Attorney's office and DA Willis favored Defendant Commissioner Arrington and Monson in the criminal proceedings, although Plaintiff Mainor was the victim."

Willis is up for reelection this year and is facing her first challenge in the May 21 primary. Attorney Christian Wise Smith, who ran against her in 2020, is her only challenger. Despite the criticism she has faced, a new poll shows she has expanded her support since she was elected.