Judge throws out 6 counts of Trump’s Georgia election interference indictment.
A Fulton County judge on Wednesday quashed multiple counts contained in the election interference indictment against former President Donald Trump and several of his co-defendants. The order from Judge Scott McAfee dismissed six counts related to a specific charge: Solicitation of Violation of Oath by a Public Officer.
Of the 13 counts Trump faced, three of them were tossed by the judge’s order. Trump now faces 10 counts in the case. The ruling is a win for Trump and several of his co-defendants, who filed to dismiss the counts on the grounds that they were legally deficient.
Judge McAfee essentially agreed, writing that they “fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission.” He said the “lack of detail concerning an essential legal element” is “fatal.”
“They do not give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the Defendants could have violated the Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways,” the order says. The motions, called demurrers, were brought by Trump, his former attorney Rudy Giuliani, former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, election lawyer John Eastman, and others.
The judge’s order quashes three of the 13 counts against Giuliani, who now faces 10 counts. The order quashes one of the two counts against Meadows, who now faces one count — the racketeering or RICO count that all 19 defendants were charged with. It quashes one of the nine counts against Eastman; three of the 12 counts against Georgia lawyer Ray Smith III; and one of the 10 counts against Georgia lawyer Robert Cheeley, according to ABC News.
“The Court made the correct legal decision to grant the special demurrers and quash important counts of the indictment brought by DA Fani Willis,” Trump attorney Steve Sadow said in a statement.
“The ruling is a correct application of the law, as the prosecution failed to make specific allegations of any alleged wrongdoing on those counts.”
The Fulton County district attorney’s office declined to comment to ABC News. Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
Defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Scott Hall subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants. The former president has blasted the district attorney’s investigation as being politically motivated.
The defendants filed special demurrers challenging certain counts of the indictment, arguing that the charges lacked specificity required for due process.
The court explained that special demurrers aim to ensure the indictment provides adequate information for the accused to defend against the charges. The court noted that while the challenged counts contained essential elements of the crimes, they lacked sufficient detail regarding the nature of the alleged violations of oath by public officers.
Therefore, the court granted the demurrers and quashed the challenged counts. However, the court clarified that this ruling did not apply to the overt acts listed in another count of the indictment.
Here is the filing:
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