One of Fulton County’s newest judges will oversee the case against former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants, according to the case’s docket.
Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who was appointed to the bench in February, was assigned to preside over the blockbuster case announced late Monday after a Fulton County grand jury returned a 41-count indictment. Trump and the other defendants are charged under the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO.
Fulton County, Georgia
RICO cases, which involve multiple defendants and a web of allegations of organized or related criminal activity, are notoriously complex and laborious — a challenge for the judge as well as the attorneys involved. In another RICO case Willis’ office is currently pursuing against rapper Young Thug and several others, jury selection alone has gone on for months. Experts have speculated it could become the longest trial in Georgia history.
But during a Monday night press conference, Willis indicated her office would pursue a far faster schedule in the Trump case, seeking trial “within six months.”
CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson says this case could make Judge McAfee one of the most recognizable faces in the country, given that Georgia allows cameras in the courtroom. Presiding over a case in which a former president is fighting multiple felony charges, the judge will face some unique challenges.
“No judge in the world has had this case before. You could have a judge with 50 years of experience and it would still be a new and unique case,” Levinson said.
Levinson believes McAfee’s past history of working in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office could help.
“He knows how the county prosecutor’s office functions. That will be helpful for him. He knows how criminal trials progress from the attorney’s side and that will be helpful for him.”
Though he’s still in his first year as a judge, this isn’t McAfee’s first time handling a case with a politically sensitive defendant. According to court documents, Judge McAfee fined pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood $5,000 for violating an injunction in June. McAfee ruled Wood explicitly violated a court order prohibiting Wood from making public, derogatory statements about the plaintiffs in a civil case that is unrelated to Wood’s work with the former president.
Before his judicial appointment, McAfee was Georgia’s inspector general, tasked with investigating waste, fraud, abuse and corruption in the executive branch. Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who chose him for the job in March 2021, called McAfee a “strong addition to my administration” because of his prior experience as a “tough prosecutor.”
Before his time in the inspector general’s office, McAfee worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. He also worked as senior assistant district attorney in Fulton County and was an assistant district attorney in Barrow County.
In the Fulton County D.A.’s office, McAfee handled hundreds of felony cases, ranging from armed robbery to murder. His LinkedIn profile says he worked on several probes in its major cases division.
In a statement made after his appointment to the bench in December 2022, McAfee vowed to “do my homework.”
“Lawyers can expect that I’ll have read their pleadings and be ready to dive into the issues,” he said.
McAfee, a longtime resident of the state, graduated with a degree in music from Emory University and received his law degree from the University of Georgia. McAfee’s biography on the IG’s website also notes that he previously worked for two Georgia Supreme Court justices.
His campaign website says McAfee is up for reelection in 2024.
