WASHINGTON, DC – The magistrate who will try former US President Donald Trump and 18 others accused of electoral interference in Georgia rejected this Wednesday that two of those defendants will not be prosecuted together at the end of October, but he was “skeptical” that they could all be judged then.
In the first televised hearing in the case, Scott McAfee said he saw no reason for attorney Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, a former Trump campaign attorney, not to go to trial together on October 23.
“I do not believe that the separation is necessary for a fair determination of the guilt or innocence of each defendant,” he said.
Chesebro’s lawyers had requested a speedy trial for October 23, a date the judge had already agreed to, and on Wednesday McAfee said he was going to issue a similar order for Powell.
In his opinion, separating the two cases would block the court’s calendar.
The 19 are accused of attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 elections in Georgia, where Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump (2017-2021) by a narrow margin of two tenths (49.5%), the closest of all. the country.
The Prosecutor’s Office had requested that all of them be tried in October, but the judge has retained that date only for Chesebro and Powell and has not yet ruled on the rest.
“It seems unrealistic to manage all 19 in 40-odd days,” McAfee said, referring to the time remaining before the already agreed October date. He is expected to rule on the matter in a new hearing next week.
The judge calculated this Wednesday that the trial could last up to eight months, double that estimated by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Powell’s defense had argued that it did not make sense for her client to appear “for days or weeks” hearing testimony from accusations that have nothing to do with her. Both she and Chesebro have received seven charges against her.
Both cases include violations of the RICO law, known to be used against mob members and used to ensure that the leaders of a criminal association, and not just their subordinates, are held accountable.
The 19 defendants were summoned this Wednesday in Georgia for the formal reading of the charges and that they plead guilty or not guilty, but all of them came forward to that date, pleading not guilty in writing and voluntarily resigned to be present today.
2023-09-07 08:38:04
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