Judge E. Trenton Brown III, Georgia Court of Appeals Credit: John Disney/ALM)
A Georgia appeals court on Friday affirmed the dismissal of six counts in the state’s 2020 election interference against President-elect Trump and his allies, upholding a trial judge’s decision that the charges must be thrown out due to a lack of detail.
“We find that the indictment fails to include enough detail to sufficiently apprise the defendants of what they must be prepared to meet so that they can intelligently prepare their defenses,” Judge E. Trenton Brown III wrote for the three-judge panel, which ruled unanimously.
Trump faced three of those charges, which notably involve his effort to pressure Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to “find” 11,779 votes, enough to overturn President Biden’s victory in the state.
All of the charges dropped pertain to efforts to solicit Georgia officials to violate their oaths of office but do not impact the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) count that each defendant faces, the count that serves as the foundation of the far-reaching prosecution.
A judge last March dismissed those charges, also citing lack of detail.
The dropping of charges is also unrelated to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s (D) appeal over her disqualification in overseeing the case.
That prong of the case is also under the appeals process at Georgia’s top court. (The Hill, 1/17/2025) (Archive)