ATLANTA (CN) — The Georgia judge overseeing the election interference case against former President Donald Trump and several of his allies struck down six counts of the indictment on Wednesday, stating they lacked sufficient detail.
In a nine-page ruling, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dismissed counts lodged against Trump, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, lawyer Charles Eastman, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and attorneys Ray Smith and Bob Cheeley.
"The court’s concern is less that the state has failed to allege sufficient conduct of the defendants — in fact it has alleged an abundance. However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned’s opinion, fatal," McAfee wrote.
"As written, these six counts contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission, i.e., the underlying felony solicited. They do not give the defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the defendants could have violated the [U.S. and Georgia] Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways," he added.
The six challenged counts charge the defendants with "solicitation of violation of oath by public officer," the indictment failed to cite what oaths each of the solicited public officers was required to take, McAfee said.
Among the struck counts were those that claimed multiple defendants solicited elected members of the Georgia Senate and House of Representatives to violate their oaths of office in December 2020, by requesting or importuning them to unlawfully appoint presidential electors.
One of the counts against Trump for soliciting the speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives to violate his oath of office on December 7, 2020, by urging him to call a special session to unlawfully appoint presidential electors, was also dropped.
McAfee also dismissed the count against Trump and Meadows for pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, to "find" enough votes needed to overturn his election defeat to President Joe Biden. The leaked phone call was a crucial element of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' probe of the illegal election interference.
However, the noted deficiencies did not apply to the corresponding overt acts listed in the indictment, McAfee wrote. He said that the overt acts alleged as part of the conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump in Georgia and other battleground states after the 2020 election, are "not held to the same pleading standards as statutorily based offenses."
Even if any overt acts are acquitted, that defendant can still be found guilty of conspiracy, as long as at least one of the overt acts is proven to have been committed by a co-conspirator.
Prosecutors can choose to re-indict with another grand jury to correct the flaws in the six struck counts or ask an appeals court to review McAfee’s decision.
The judge said he would “likely grant” permission to appeal should the state seek it.
The criminal investigation against Trump was first launched by Willis' office in 2021. Trump was charged with racketeering and a dozen other felonies under the indictment brought in August against him and 18 of his allies.
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