Sidney Powell, former attorney for former President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty on Thursday morning in the Georgia election interference case. Powell’s plea came before the scheduled trial next week for herself and Kenneth Chesebro, who is accused of rigging the 2020 election in favor of Mr. Trump. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee stated the trial is expected to take five to six months, though this is only for the two defendants and not the full slate of 18 accused.
Powell was one of 19 defendants charged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for the indictment, which includes racketeering, conspiracy to commit election fraud, conspiracy to commit computer theft, trespass and invasion of privacy, and conspiracy to defraud the state. Powell and her counsel were present in court on Monday to come up with the questions to be asked of the prospective jurors in the trial.
However, the defense wanted to ask questions such as “Do you think that Trump and his associates tried to steal the election and throw out my vote?” and “Do you think every single person who is accused of helping Donald Trump to overturn the election should be punished?”, to which the prosecution objected to.
Fulton County prosecutors drop all 7 felony charges against Sidney Powell – in exchange for a misdemeanor plea.
They overcharged and they knew it. pic.twitter.com/fL9JkUTqkk
— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) October 19, 2023
Judge McAfee seemed hesitant to ask such questions of the jurors, stating it does not adhere to existing case law. Prosecutors alleged that the defense would like to disregard the law for this high-profile case, to which Grubman argued that it wouldn’t be the right thing to treat the case as an ordinary one, as it is unprecedented in the Georgia legal system.
Under Georgia law, a guilty plea will automatically delay all pending trials until subsequent defendants are afforded proper judicial consideration.
