Former President Donald Trump talks to the media at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after giving up at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta,Aug 24, 2023.
Joe Raedle|Getty Images
An Atlanta judge on Wednesday declined a movement for different trials for 2 co-defendants of Donald Trump, in a case where they are implicated with the previous president and 16 others of a criminal conspiracy in attempting to reverse Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia.
Judge Scott McAfee stated that currently, he prepares to begin trial for Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell onOct 23. Both offenders, who had actually asked for rapid trials in their cases, are lawyers.
McAfee exposed the door– a little– to approve a demand by district attorneys to hold a joint trial for Trump and the 18 co-defendants in the event.
“It sounds like the state is still sticking to the position that all these defendants should remain and they want to address some of these removal issues,” McAfee stated throughout a hearing in Fulton County Superior Court.
“I’m willing to hear that. I remain very skeptical,” the judge stated as he offered the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office time to send a legal short validating the joint trial.
“But … I’m willing to hear what you have to say on it.”
Earlier in the hearing, a district attorney informed McAfee that holding a joint trial for Trump and the other offenders would take 4 months to finish, with statement from possibly more than 150 witnesses.
Lawyers for Chesebro and Powell had actually requested for different trials for them by arguing that their declared conduct that caused the criminal trials was not linked to each other.
Trump is individually charged in federal court in Washington with criminal offenses associated with his effort to reverse President Joe Biden’s win in the nationwide governmental election in 2020.
Five other offenders in the Georgia case besides Chesebro and Powell have actually submitted movements asking McAfee to sever their trials from those of co-defendants.
Several offenders have actually asked that their cases be moved to federal district court in Georgia, amongst them previous Trump White House chief of personnel Mark Meadows.
This is breaking news. Please examine back for updates.
