Update: A federal judge in the Northern District of Georgia denied Mark Meadow's motion to remove his criminal case to federal court. Meadows was widely considered to have the strongest case for removal. Prosecutors argued that Meadows violated the Hatch Act by becoming involved in his boss' campaign for president. The Georgia Secretary of State was called to testify at the hearing of the motion. When asked what he thought of the call from Meadows and Trump in which Trump asked him to find 11,780 more votes, he answered, "I thought it was a campaign call." The judge found that Meadows activities in Georgia were outside the scope of his duties as the president's chief of staff.
More: The report of the special grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia was released today. Jurors wanted to indict twenty more people than the 19 DA Fani Willis eventually charged. These included Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, former Georgia senators Kelly Loeffler and David Purdue, and former national security advisor Michael Flynn. As it turns out, Ms. Willis made a concerted effort to par the case down to a more manageable size of nineteen. The special grand jury agrees with US Person that the attempted coup was the result of a nationwide conspiracy among MAGAists that extended into all three branches of the national government. The jury spent seven months hearing 75 witnesses. Their report was submitted in December but was sealed until a regular grand jury indicted 19 on RICO charges on August 28th.
The possibility of a hung jury in the criminal case against Don 'Legit' is becoming more real. In the special grand jury there was always one vote against charging him with various crimes, and several abstentions in several instances. Only 12 out of 21 jurors were needed to indict. A criminal conviction requires a unanimous jury. This possibility is part of the difficulties involved in prosecuting a national political figure, and why Trumpillini has strenuously acted to remain in the public view.
{06.09.23}The judge in the Georgia RICO case against 19 defendants is running into a logistical and scheduling problem. The DA wants to try all nineteen defendants at the same time, but the judge is skeptical of that arrangement. First of all trying nineteen defendants at the same time runs the risk of turning a televised proceeding into a free-for-all circus, No witness in their right mind wants to undergo cross-examination by nineteen defense lawyers. Second, several of the defendants have filed motions making the all at once strategy--admittedly advantageous to the prosecution team--impossible. Two defendants--Chesebro and Powell--have filed motions for a speedy trial under Georgia law. Judge McAfee, appointed by Repugnant Gov. Kemp, has set October 23rd for their trial date. That leaves 17 defendants.
Six defendants have filed or will file motions for removal to federal court including the conspirator in chief. A ruling on those motions will take several months counting time for appeals from initial adverse rulings. This group, call it Group C, includes defendants Meadows, Clark, three fake electors, and defendant Trump. They will have to show that they were acting under the color of federal law in the performance of their duties as federal officials, and that they have a plausible federal defense. It is unlikely that the three fake electors would qualify for removal under these requirements, but Meadows and Clark might since they were both federal officials at the time of their alleged criminal acts. Criminal acts are not considered to be part of official duty, so that let's Trump out. Besides, what plausible federal defense he may have to interfering in a state election is anybody's guess. "Doing what ever he wants as President", is also not a defense. Just ask Dick Nixon. These defendants make a logical group to be tried in state court at a later time if and when their removal motions fail on federal appeal.
So that leaves 11 defendants remaining to be tried in Georgia's courts. These folks could be split in half with the most culpable and related by the evidence being Group A, and the remaining five minor players being Group B. Group A should be tried first. It is an arrangement that is repetitive, requiring four trials, but logistically more easily handled by the court and a jury. Assuming the boss looses his federal removal appeal, he could be tried with Meadows and Clark, if they also loose in federal court. Or he could be tried alone or with the three fake electors in state court. In this way the federal removal process would not delay state trials agains the other defendants. US Person assumes the federal removal motions would be expedited by the federal judiciary. It is possible that the entire case could be moved to the Northern District of Georgia if one of the movants is successful. Defense attorneys consider federal court to be advantageous since the jury pool there is less heavily Democratic than Fulton County. Defendant Trump could still be tried next year, before the next presidential election in November 2024. How is that for a socko campaign ad?
In any event, Judge Scott McAfee will rule next week on a tentative schedule. Stayed tuned. US Person should mention that Enrico Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys militia that acted as Trump's ground forces in the Capitol riot got twenty-two years in prison for seditious conspiracy this week. Tarrio was not at the Capitol himself, but prosecutors convinced Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, to apply a sentence enhancement for domestic terrorism. It is the harshest sentence related to January 6th handed out so far by four years. This sentence set a foreboding precedent for Tarrio's commander in chief, Don 'Legit', who is charged with related federal felonies in the same courthouse. Judge Kelly said a stiff sentence was necessary to deter future political violence. Five people died in the riot.
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| credit: Ann Telnaes, Washington Post BC Idonwanna sez: He sliced his shot! |