On an eventful morning in Fulton County, Judge Scott McAfee held a discovery hearing for attorneys Ken Chesebro and Sidney Powell. Prior to the commencement of the hearing, Judge McAfee dropped an order that severed the 17 other RICO defendants from Chesebro and Powell who have asserted their speedy trial rights.
Concerns with safeguarding each defendant’s due process rights and maintaining adequate pretrial preparation influenced Judge McAfee’s decision. He stated that current circumstances heavily favor severing the RICO defendants. Furthermore, the Judge suggested that it’s likely that the remaining 17 defendants could face further divisions.
In a surprising development, Mark Meadows withdrew his emergency petition after the court denied a stay in proceedings to remove his case to the federal court. The court argues that resolving the issue at the 11th Circuit may take months and that current state discovery motions likely mirror what would be filed in a federal court.
While this development favored the severed 17 defendants, Powell and Chesebro lost their bid to sever their cases from each other. Despite their attempts to exclude evidence of ‘prejudicial’ charges against their co-defendants, Judge McAfee found in favor of joining the cases. According to the Judge, the unrelated nature of the charges against them promotes joinder, not severance. The court then shifted to the morning’s livestream.
The hearing escalated significantly when defendants sought access to grand jurors to question them about potential prosecutorial misconduct. The session ended with Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade’s retort to Powell’s lawyer, Brian Rafferty, who repeatedly complained about sluggish discovery production. The day’s proceedings serve as a reminder of the friction present in such high-stakes trials and the weariness of the court over continued sniping.
For further reading:
State of Georgia v. Meadows
State of Georgia v. Meadows
US v. Trump