Georgia Judge Voices Doubt on Holding One Big Election Trial

A judge on Wednesday turned down requests by lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell for separate trials in the Georgia election interference case, saying they can be tried fairly together. The two have pleaded not guilty to the charges in an indictment outlining efforts to overturn Donald Trump's loss in the state's 2020 presidential vote, as have the former president and the other 16 defendants. "Why should Mr. Chesebro have to deal with a jury who's going to sit there for weeks, if not months, and listen to all of this evidence" on Powell's actions? asked Scott Grubman, a Chesebro attorney. Prosecutors said separate trials wouldn't necessarily be shorter, ABC News reports. "The evidence is exactly the same," said Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Will Wooten. "The number of witnesses is the same."

Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee was more receptive to arguments against District Attorney Fani Willis' original plan to try all defendants in one proceeding, starting Oct. 23—when Chesebro and Powell scheduled for trial. "I remain very skeptical," McAfee told prosecutors, per the Hill, adding, "I'm willing to hear what you have to say on it." Willis and her office have repeatedly stressed a desire to keep everyone charged under Georgia's anti-racketeering law in one proceeding. They argued defense contentions that the accusations against each defendant are different, so the trials should be separate. "Any time a person enters into a conspiracy, they are liable for all of the acts of all of their co-conspirators," Wooten said. "And that's it. Evidence against one is evidence against all." (More election interference indictment stories.)