The first televised trial in relation to the Fulton County Superior Court case involving Trump started recently. The proceeding took place before Judge Scott McAfee, attracting significant attention as it was livestreamed on YouTube. A key factor highlighted was a potential conflict between Georgia’s comprehensive RICO law and its guarantee of a right to a quick trial. Under close examination is the possibility of 19 different defendants being prosecuted together while also promising those defendants their right to force the prosecution to proceed to trial within a two month period.
The discussion mostly revolved around the request by attorneys Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro to be treated separately from their 17 codefendants, including one another. Both lawyers argued that it is unjust for them to spend extensive periods in court alongside unfamiliar individuals, tainting their reputation with evidence of sub-plots they were not involved in.
In response to these arguments, Deputy DA for Fulton County, Will Wooten, dismissed these claims as absurd. He pointed out that Georgia’s RICO law clearly stipulates that evidence proven against a single defendant can be used against all members allegedly involved in the conspiracy. Therefore, the prejudice, as noted by Chesebro and Powell, is somewhat reluctantly expected. These discussions brought the RICO law to the forefront which, interestingly, has also been used against school teachers, court reporters, and protestors. The accused election defendants, short of declaring the entire statute unconstitutional, have no significant escape from this implication.
Judge McAfee responded to the situation by issuing a ruling from the bench that flatly denied Cheseboro and Powell’s request to be severed from one another. He also temporarily held back their request to be individually severed from the rest of the case. These developments hint at a bleak outcome for other defendants who have moved to sever their cases, including high-profile names such as Mark Meadows, John Eastman, and Trump himself.
It is anticipated that Cheseboro and Powell will proceed to trial in October, following their assertion of their right to a speedy trial. However, the Court seems to be leaning towards not pressing the entire group of defendants into a trial by the next month. There is still uncertainty revolving around how a case involving 19 defendants can feasibly be tried within five weeks.
Despite the challenges, the Fulton County District Attorney is confident about moving forward with the October trial. Prosecutors have planned to call 150 witnesses, expected to take about four months. However, there is no clarity yet on how the Defense will cross examine all these witnesses within this time span. Several timing and scheduling issues are expected to develop once the trials start and these demands continue to be a cause for concern for Judge McAfee.
With this, the legal professionals await the outcomes of this high-profile case as well as the significant implications it may have on future RICO cases.
You can follow the procedural details of the case from the Fulton County Clerk’s Docket.
The original report was provided by Liz Dye, a Baltimore-based writer, well known for coverage of law and politics. She also appears on the Opening Arguments podcast.
Read the full story here.