Elected District Attorney
She always envisioned herself as a lawyer in a courtroom but her eventual career path changed from defense to prosecution.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Fanni Willis (FW) was born in California, just outside Los Angeles. Her father was a social activist and a founder of the Black Panther Political Party (whose original purpose was to patrol African American neighborhoods to protect residents from acts of police brutality; the party eventually developed other goals not important for this career story since FW was never involved in that political group.)
FW’s father eventually became a criminal defense attorney, having noticed over the course of many civil rights protest arrests that the lawyers who were involved to obtain his release from jail following his arrest for civil disobedience during the protests, were always White.
The family moved from California to Washington, D.C. as FW entered first grade. Her parents divorced a few years later and her mother eventually returned to California. FW mostly stayed with her father, whose clients were often charged with murder and illegal drug possession and distribution. When FW was a teenager, her father would issue dire warnings: “You can’t go there. My client killed somebody over there.”
CHILDHOOD THOUGHTS OF AN ADULT CAREER
At age 8, FW was helping her father organize his client files. From that point forward, FW knew she wanted to follow her father’s path: be a lawyer in courtrooms involved with criminal law.
Looking back from an adult perspective, FW assumes that as a child, she envisioned herself defending clients accused of crimes. Ironically, her adult path was eventually on the other side of the law: prosecuting criminals.
EDUCATION
Understanding early on that to become a lawyer, a person must first graduate from college, then from law school and pass the state licensing test (the “Bar Exam”), FW worked hard in elementary and high school to be sure she would qualify for college admission.
Following high school graduation, FW graduated from college before enrolling in law school, graduating, and passing her state’s Bar Exam on her first attempt.
INTERNSHIPS – GREAT EXPERIENCE FOR LOW PAY
While a law student, FW saw notices on the school’s bulletin boards, advertising opportunities for summer internships in law offices.
Editor – Interns’ financial earnings are typically minimal because an intern is not licensed to represent clients and can only assist the attorney with basic tasks such as contacting witnesses and preparing the first draft of legal forms for the attorney’s approval. Most legal secretaries know more about the law than summer interns. Nonetheless, the experience of seeing how a law firm works and watching an experienced lawyer interact with clients, opposing lawyers, and judges, is invaluable for the law student.
CAREER PATH COMMENCES IN A SMALL SETTING TO MAXIMIZE EXPERIENCE
FW might have decided to apply to a ‘Big Law’ firm, to be one of a dozen new associates initially assigned legal research projects, rarely sitting in with law firm partners meeting with clients or observing courtroom activities. But FW already knew that she would prefer working in a small law office where she could be closer to the action than spending most of her time in a law library. She envisioned herself in court – on her own as soon as possible – standing in front of the jury box, offering persuasive arguments involving the facts and applicable law, toward a successful result for her client.
Editor – Legal ethics permit a lawyer to represent someone who is apparently guilty of a crime or causing an auto accident; however, the attorney is not permitted to create a fictional account or to misquote the applicable law to the judge or jury – or to bribe anyone including witnesses or judges – or to permit their client to create a “fake news” story which the attorney knows is untrue.
So, FW found work as a new attorney within the law office of a criminal defense counsel who employed only one other young attorney. Almost immediately, FW was assigned to meet with new clients by herself and soon, after brief suggestions from her boss regarding potential defense strategies, FW was ‘on her own’ representing a high volume of clients charged with crimes headed to jury trials.
The volume and variety of cases – she arrived at one bail bond hearing only to recognize her client as the stripper from a bachelorette party she had recently attended – gave FW confidence in the courtroom and she eventually left to start her own law practice.
SWITCHING FROM DEFENSE TO PROSECUTION
After several years defending clients in criminal cases, FW joined the county District Attorney’s office as one of several Assistant (sometimes called “Deputy) District Attorneys.
Editor – It is not unusual for a defense lawyer to change his or her career path by jumping to the other side: the prosecution. Nor is it unusual for the reverse: a prosecutor decides to become a defense attorney. Lawyer’s professional ethics prohibit a prosecutor getting involved in any cases against former clients; likewise, a lawyer who has left the D.A.’s office to defend alleged criminals, cannot represent someone they had earlier, personally prosecuted.)
The job of each Deputy D.A. is to prosecute whenever their boss, the District Attorney (“D.A.”) authorizes criminal charges against individuals or businesses charged with violations of criminal law. First, the Deputy meets with the investigators (police detectives, potential fact witnesses and forensic scientists like DNA experts if relevant – e.g. blood evidence) to assess whether there is sufficient evidence to prove guilt. If not, the deputy recommends to the DA that some or all the criminal charges be dismissed. If there is sufficient evidence of guilt, the deputy will schedule a trial or attempt to negotiate a guilty plea with the defendant’s attorney. However, all such decisions are subject to approval by the DA until the DA – as a practical matter since the DA doesn’t have enough time to get personally involved in every decision by every deputy – sufficiently trusts the experience and judgment of the deputy to essentially provide to the deputy, total discretion as to whether to proceed. But the ultimate responsibility for proceeding to properly prosecute crimes always remains with the DA.
FW was very impressed with the wisdom, moral character and expertise of her new boss, the District Attorney and said, “I wanted to please him, so I worked really hard” eventually being trusted to be the lead prosecuting attorney in serious felony cases. FW tried over 100 murder cases, averaging a dozen per year. With her dedication and courtroom success, FW was promoted to one of the D.A.’s Chief Deputies.
Fellow prosecutors, defense counsel and judges soon came to recognize and appreciate FW’s persuasive strategies and presentations in the courtroom.
FIRST TRY TO AN ELECTED POSITION – CONFRONTED BY RACISM
FW’s first run for an elected government position was to enter a race for a county judgeship. Now a divorced mother of two college-age daughters, she withdrew $50,000 from her retirement fund to enter the political contest, ultimately failing after winning enough votes to qualify for a run-off election (mandated by state law when the voting percentages were within certain tiny ranges).
During her election campaign, FW spoke with a White political strategist across town from her (mostly Black) neighborhood. “I considered myself a conservative, hard on crime; a life prosecutor so I’m their perfect candidate, right?” What she heard, however, was very hurtful: “You will never win these voters because you are Black and female.” She was stunned but informed. She remembers praying for guidance and sitting in her living room “feeling very lost.”
As a result of the eventual election between the final two candidates for a judgeship, there was both good news and bad news for FW. The bad news was that she lost. The good news was that her political campaign had increased the public’s awareness of her as an attorney and she had made a positive impression with many political leaders, one of whom, a local Mayor, appointed FW to be a judge in a ‘minor court’ (handling crimes not subject to a prison sentence).
CHALLENGE – BORING JOB
While appreciating the opportunity, FW found the work of a minor court judge to be repetitive and by its very ‘minor’ nature, not dealing with major crimes but instead, she was ruling on low-level misdemeanors in municipal court. However, state law permitted FW to maintain her private law practice at the same time and soon, with her new name recognition, she was earning more money than ever before in her private practice. “At that point, I was representing a few professional athletes and they keep making babies so I’m doing family law stuff with them.”
THE FIRST TRY FOR POLITICAL OFFICE MAY LEAD TO A SECOND OPPORTUNITY
Editor – A politician who “runs a good race” – being a believable candidate with good ideas but just not enough votes, may be solicited later by political leaders to try again when the prospects for success seem better. This is an example of ‘Luck’ – defined within this series of career stories as “experience meets opportunity.”
FW’s first service as a prosecutor was under a DA who had been elected to the same position six times, serving as the county DA for 24 consecutive years. He was preparing to run for a 7th term when claims of misconduct began to surface. People began to reach out to FW, saying she was the only person who could win an election against her former boss and warning that if the long-time DA’s scandals forced him to resign, the state Governor would likely appoint a member of the Governor’s political party to be the new DA until a special election could be held. FW’s new supporters would rather see her as DA than someone they didn’t know and couldn’t trust to do a good job as DA.
By coincidence, some people who were registered with the political party which had voted to defeat FW’s recent bid for a judgeship, were increasingly concerned about the rise of crime and decided that FW, on the basis of her previous political campaign, would be a DA tough on crime if elected – so her former political opponents now switched their allegiance to FW, promising to raise money for her campaign and to persuade voters from all parties to help elect FW as DA.
CHALLENGE – WHETHER TO OPPOSE A FORMER MENTOR IN AN ELECTION
While FW appreciated the opportunity for a wider range of bi-partisan political support for her next election campaign to serve as District Attorney, she “absolutely” felt that she would be betraying her former DA boss by running against him. But soon after the primary election campaign began, another woman came forward to accuse her former boss of sexual harassment, followed by news that state investigators were looking into claims that her boss had improperly funneled city grant money to a nonprofit business he was running.
So, considering the growing number of misconduct allegations against her old boss, the details of which she had not known about previously, FW felt more comfortable running for an office to serve the voters with complete integrity and professionalism.
FW came in first in the primary election, with significant voters’ support from both the White and Black communities. However, a third candidate for DA had earned a small percentage of the votes, preventing FW from winning more than 50% of the total votes, so again she had to compete in a run-off election which ultimately, she won, becoming the first female and first Black to be elected as the county District Attorney – the chief law enforcement officer for the area.
BRINGING NEW IDEAS TO HER NEW JOB AS THE HEAD PROSECUTOR
Six months after she was elected District Attorney, FW confirmed by her public actions, that she would not just maintain the status quo, when she appeared before the County Board of Commissioners (the county equivalent of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives) to request additional personnel to support her initiatives to reduce crime by prosecuting criminal gangs.
FW addressed the Commissioners and the audience with strong words: “We have a public-safety crisis going on.” Because of court backlogs and mismanagement by her predecessor, she argued, more dangerous individuals would end up on the streets unless she could hire more staff. Crime would be her primary focus. “None of your constituents is safe,” she thundered, sounding like a prosecutor facing another jury. “Not yours, Chairman Pitts. Not yours, Commissioner Hall. Not yours, Commissioner Ellis.”
She supplemented her statements with slides demonstrating dire statistics: rapes up 86 percent from the previous summer, murders up 25%, more than 1,400 unindicted suspects who could soon be bonded out of jail. “So maybe you’re thinking, Well, this ain’t really my issue, not in my district,” she said. “But no! The murders are occurring eve-ry-where.” Photographs of victims flashed on the screen from every district, while FW pointed out: “This lady was killed in District 1. This man was killed in District 3. A Tony award-nominated actor was killed in District 4.” And so it went, a virtuoso performance that had the Sheriff praising her before his own remarks, as “the baddest D.A. in the country” and the commissioners offering full-throated, even profane support for her efforts. “Forget keeping taxes to the minimum” said one commissioner, “We got to get these people locked up!”
At the next meeting, the commission voted to appropriate an additional $5 million for FW’s District Attorney’s office budget. FW quickly moved to expand her office’s gang unit and pushed the city’s police department to seek more gang arrests. She improved the DA’s office technology to assist tracking the status of those arrested for bail hearings and trial scheduling, trained the police to identify gang signifiers and lobbied state legislators to make the state’s already-tough gang laws even tougher, imposing mandatory minimum sentences for repeat offenders.
HIGH PROFILE PROSECUTION LEADS TO PRAISE AND CRITICISM
Prosecuting local gang crime brought FW and her deputy prosecutors into direct conflict with one of the city’s biggest cultural businesses: hip hop music, because several leading performers within the local hip hop music industry, were accused of involvement in murder, armed robbery, drug dealing and witness intimidation. At a press conference announcing the indictments against the well-known music artists, FW told the assembled reporters: “We have a message – Get out of this county or expect to start seeing sentences that go ‘life-plus’ because I am not going to negotiate with gang members.”
FW’s first encounter with national headlines came in what became known as her city’s ‘Public Schools Cheating Scandal’. Most of the educators involved pled guilty to minor crimes resulting from falsifying students’ test scores in exchange for what seemed like minor favors (e.g., accepting gift cards from students) but in the big picture, amounted to bribes to improve test scores. Prosecutors led by FW brought to jury trial the final dozen teachers on racketeering charges, winning convictions against 11 educators.
Some legal observers thought that using racketeering laws to proceed in an 8 month-long trial was excessive since the educators might have been charged with minor crimes involving less potential prison sentences and none of the teachers had been accused of violence or even making any threats. But FW remained unapologetic because she believed the educators were doing a disservice to pass children (all poor and virtually all Black) to the next grade when they hadn’t mastered the knowledge and skills required to be successful in the next grade.
CAREER SATISFACTION
Despite occasional community criticism for her aggressive tactics, FW has never backed down from prosecutions which she believes are justified to improve public safety. “I’m probably not a very good politician,” said FW, “But I’m a very good prosecutor.”
EPILOGUE STILL TO BE WRITTEN
Editor – As this career story is being written, FW is under political attack over her appointment of a Special Prosecutor to proceed against a former President of the U.S. for his – and several others’ – election interference. The ultimate outcome of that matter will – in the eyes of some citizens – impact FW’s professional reputation but consider two old adages adaptable to FW’s situation involving a mix of law and politics: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!” and “If you want a friend (in government), get a dog!”
This career story is based on an article written by Mark Binelli, published within the New York Times Magazine on 2/5/23.
