A judge from the state of Georgia handed down a ruling on Thursday that former President Donald Trump will be tried separately from the 16 other people who are going to trial next month in a case where they are accused of playing roles in a dastardly — and illegal — scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In reality, all these folks did was question the official results due to evidence of shady business and ask for investigations to be conducted to ensure the accuracy of the total count. Apparently, the left doesn’t think you should be able to ask questions and ensure election integrity.
According to Newsmax, attorneys Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro both filed official demands to exercise their right to a speedy trial, which resulted in a Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee setting a date for their hearings on Oct. 23. However, the former president, along with some of the other defendants named in the indictment, wanted to be tried in separate proceedings from the lawyers, citing the inability to be adequately prepared to go to trial in such a short amount of time.
“Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last month obtained an indictment against Trump and the 18 others, charging them under the state’s anti-racketeering law in their efforts to deny Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over the Republican incumbent. Willis had been pushing to try all 19 defendants together, arguing that it would be more efficient and more fair. McAfee cited the tight timetable, among other issues, as a factor in his decision to separate Trump and 16 others from Powell and Chesebro,” the report said.
“The precarious ability of the Court to safeguard each defendant’s due process rights and ensure adequate pretrial preparation on the current accelerated track weighs heavily, if not decisively, in favor of severance,” McAfee stated. He went on to say that it could be necessary to further split them into smaller groups for trial.
Another high profile defendant in the case, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as Trump’s personal attorney, is seeking to put some distance between himself and Powell due to a reputation she has for being someone who pushed “conspiracy theories” concerning the election. Others have followed his lead and also sought not to be connected to Powell for the same reason.
Both Chesebro and Powell attempted to be tried separately from one another, but the judge presiding over the case said no.
Check out more details via Newsmax:
Chesebro is accused of working on the coordination and execution of a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate declaring that Trump won and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. Powell is accused of participating in a breach of election equipment in rural Coffee County.
The nearly 100-page indictment details dozens of alleged acts by Trump or his allies to undo his 2020 loss in Georgia, including suggesting the secretary of state, a Republican, could help find enough votes for Trump to win the battleground state; harassing an election worker who faced false claims of fraud; and attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of electoral college electors favorable to Trump.
Further explaining his decision to separate the others from Powell and Chesebro, McAfee said he was skeptical of prosecutors’ argument that trying all 19 defendants together would be more efficient. He noted that the Fulton County courthouse does not have a courtroom big enough to hold 19 defendants, their lawyers and others who would need to be present, and relocating to a bigger venue could raise security concerns.
One of the reasons prosecutors gave for not wanting to have separate trials is because each one of the defendants named in the indictment are being charged under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, also known as RICO, and as such, the state will be calling the same witnesses and presenting the same evidence at each individual trial. It’s been estimated the trial will take four months, including the selection of the jury.
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