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A Fulton County judge on Wednesday appeared highly skeptical of trying all
19 defendants together in the sprawling election interference case
involving former President Donald Trump.

Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee posed tough questions to Fulton
prosecutors, who argued that all of the defendants indicted on
racketeering and 40 other charges last month should be tried at the same
time, potentially as soon as the end of October.

“It seems a bit unrealistic that we could handle all 19 in 40-something
days,” McAfee said. “That’s my initial reaction.”

McAfee gave prosecutors until Tuesday to respond in a court brief.

The judge’s comments came during a 90-minute hearing in which attorneys
for two of the case’s co-defendants, lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, argued that they should be tried separately from one another and
the larger group.

At the end of the hearing, McAfee granted Powell’s demand for a speedy
trial, setting her trial date for Oct. 23, the same day as Chesebro’s. He denied a push from Chesebro to sever his case from Powell and a motion
from Powell to sever her case from Chesebro’s.

Still to be determined is whether just Powell and Chesebro will be tried
on Oct. 23 — or whether all 19 defendants will be expected in court that
day.

McAfee said he was “very skeptical” of the latter, suggesting that he was sympathetic to arguments from various defense attorneys, including
Trump’s, who have argued they had scheduling conflicts and wouldn’t have
enough time to get ready. McAfee also indicated that pre-trial motions
would take time to adjudicate.

The judge, who was confirmed to the bench in February, also sounded
unconvinced by the projected timeline laid out by the district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors estimated that their case would take roughly four months to
present at trial, excluding jury selection, and that they plan to call
more than 150 witnesses. They said that would be the case if all 19 co- defendants are tried together or if some, including Chesebro or Powell,
are severed from the main group.

Deputy District Attorney Will Wooten argued that “evidence against one (defendant) is evidence against all.”

“The state’s position is whether we have one trial or 19" the evidence and witnesses stay the same, he said, since the state will still need to prove
the existence of a conspiracy.

If the recent past is any guide, jury selection could take months or
longer. In a separate Fulton County racketeering case against Young Slime
Life involving more than a half-dozen defendants, jury selection has
dragged on for eight months and no jurors have been selected.

McAfee said jury selection involving 19 sets of defense attorneys who
could each strike jurors would be a “different animal” than if it involved
one or two teams. He noted it would take substantial time for juror
questioning and witness cross-examination to occur.

Prosecutors argued that trying all defendants together would be an
economical use of resources, avoid inconsistent verdicts and be better for victims of the alleged conspiracy having to relive their trauma.

The judge acknowledged the expedited timeline for at least some defendants
and said that he intended to make “that Oct. 23 trial date stick.” He said
he expected to rule on trial schedules for all defendants by early next
week.

Looming over the hearing was the fact that U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones is expected to rule in the days or weeks ahead on a push from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to remove the case from Fulton to federal court. If Meadows succeeds, it’s possible that the entire case —
for all 19 defendants — changes venues. Any decision is expected to be
appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and possibly to the U.S.
Supreme Court, which could lead to substantial delays and confusion.

During the hearing, Chesebro’s attorneys, Scott Grubman and Manny Arora,
argued that it was not fair to try Chesebro with Powell, given that they
were involved in two different portions of the case. (Chesebro in the appointment of Trump electors in swing states won by Joe Biden, and Powell allegedly with the breach of election data in Coffee County.)

Grubman said Chesebro doesn’t know Powell and has never spoken with her,
nor has he stepped foot in Coffee County. Arora said if the two are tried together, evidence about Powell could “spill over” and affect Chesebro in
the eyes of a jury during a long trial.

Brian Rafferty, Powell’s attorney, said he was seeking to sever his client
from the other co-defendants so he could refute the case facts, which he
said prosecutors got wrong.

“She was not the driving force” as described in the indictment, Rafferty
said.

Wooten said under Georgia’s racketeering law, it doesn’t matter whether co-defendants like Powell and Chesebro knew one another. They all worked
“in furtherance of the same overarching RICO conspiracy” to alter the 2020 election results in Georgia, he said.

“As this enterprise operated in various states… the conspiracy evolved.
One thing didn’t work, so we moved on to the next thing,” Wooten said.

Responding to Chesebro attorneys’ concerns that a jury would get evidence against Powell and Chesebro confused, Wooten said potential jury confusion could be addressed by other means. That includes instructions to the jury
to separately consider the evidence for each defendant.

-Staff Writer Bill Rankin contributed to this article.

https://www.ajc.com/politics/fulton-judge-denies-chesebro-powell-attempts- to-separate-trials/Q57EQ7BN2FA6NG65RFWWV6SIWQ/

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