Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is requesting a March 4, 2024 trial date, the day before a dozen states may hold their primaries, for former President Donald Trump and 18 other co-conspirators in the Georgia general elections case. She plans to try all 19 defendants together.
“In light of Defendant Donald John Trump’s other criminal and civil matters pending in the courts of our sister sovereigns, the State of Georgia proposes certain deadlines that do not conflict with these other courts’ already-scheduled hearings and trial dates,” reads the Wednesday filing, first reported by CNN.
By March 4, the traditionally early states, including Iowa and New Hampshire, will already have held their primaries. Super Tuesday is March 5, 2024, when several more states will hold theirs.
Georgia’s March 12 primary date was set by Georgia’s Republican secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, who said in May that Democrats had pushed for an earlier date. President Trump is also facing a Jan. 2, 2024 trial in Washington, another March trial date in New York, and an August trial in Florida.
“The proposed dates are requested so as to allow the Defendants’ needs to review discovery and prepare for trial but also to protect the State of Georgia’s and the public’s interest in a prompt in a prompt resolution.” A judge will set the final date.
The Epoch Times has reached out to lawyers for President Trump for comment.
The district attorney’s office is requesting arraignments to take place the week of Sept. 5, followed by 10 days for discovery and materials sent by Sept. 29.
It proposes that all motions and notices be filed by Oct. 31, and hearings for these to begin Dec. 11.
The proposed final pretrial conference date is Feb. 20, 2024, with a trial start date of March 4, 2024.
On Monday, a grand jury handed up a 98-page indictment with a total of 41 counts for the 19 defendants. All were charged with acts of racketeering, and President Trump was charged with 13 counts, the most of any of the defendants.
19 Conspirators Named
Besides President Trump, the defendants are his former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and his former attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis; attorneys Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Ray Smith III, and Robert Cheeley; former DOJ attorney Jeffrey Clark; GOP strategist Michael Roman; Georgia’s alternate electors Shawn Still, Cathleen Latham, and former head of the Georgia Republican Party David Shafer; Illinois pastor Stephen Lee; Harrison Floyd, vice president for the Black Conservative Federation who is also involved in Black Voices for Trump; Trevian Kutti, former publicist for Kanye West; Scott Hall, a Georgia bail bondsman and Fulton County Republican poll watcher; and Misty Hampton, also known as Misty Emily Hayes, former Coffee County elections supervisor.
Ms. Willis said in a press conference after Monday’s indictment that arrest warrants have been issued and defendants have until noon Aug. 25 to voluntarily surrender.
Mr. Meadows on Tuesday asked for his case to be removed to federal court, and Mr. Giuliani has said he will do the same.
Mr. Giuliani had said in a Tuesday radio appearance that the district attorney’s projected six-month timeline to try 19 defendants together was laughable, as racketeering cases he tried with more than 20 defendants took more than two years to convict everyone.
Others are expected to do so as well, as they were acting in their official capacities as staff and counsel for the president regarding federal matters.
Legal experts have pointed out that the case is novel and unlikely to hold.
Attorney Curt Levey of the Committee for Justice said the indictment “certainly does not seem strong,” noting that he was “struggling to understand” what exactly the underlying crime was.
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said this, and other indictments against President Trump, are designed to get quick convictions that will fall apart on appeal.
From The Epoch Times