March 13, 2024 – Georgia judge Scott McAfee dismisses 6 charges in Fani Willis indictment

In Email/Dossier/Govt Corruption Investigations by Katie Weddington

Judge Scott McAfee (Credit: CNN)

(…) On Wednesday Judge McAfee quashed 6 counts in Fani Willis’ indictment – including 3 counts against President Trump.

According to the ruling:

  • Count Two alleges that multiple Defendants solicited elected members of the Georgia Senate to violate their oaths of office on December 3, 2020, by requesting or importuning them to unlawfully appoint presidential electors;
  • Count Five alleges that Defendant Trump solicited the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives to violate his oath of office on December 7, 2020, by requesting or importuning him to call a special session to unlawfully appoint presidential electors;
  • Count Six alleges that Defendants Smith and Giuliani solicited members of the Georgia House of Representatives to violate their oaths of office on December 10, 2020, by requesting or importuning them to unlawfully appoint presidential electors;
  • Count 23 alleges that multiple Defendants solicited elected members of the Georgia Senate to violate their oaths of office on December 30, 2020, by requesting or importuning them to unlawfully appoint presidential electors;
  • Count 28 alleges that Defendants Trump and Meadows solicited the Georgia Secretary of State to violate his oath of office on January 2, 2021, by requesting or importuning him to unlawfully influence the certified election returns; and
  • Count 38 alleges that Defendant Trump solicited the Georgia Secretary of State to violate his oath of office on September 17, 2021, by requesting or importuning him to unlawfully decertify the election.

The judge in his ruling left the door open to a superseding indictment, however, this move still may not get Fani Willis her pre-election conviction since the defense is allowed discovery and time to respond to any new charges.

(Read more: The Gateway Pundit, 3/13/2024) (Archive)

Techno Fog offers more legalese:

(…) Judge McAfee quashed these counts through a “special demurrer.” Before we get to his reasoning and the effects of quashing these counts, its important to discuss the relevant aspects of the law.

Georgia law requires an indictment provide sufficient factual allegations to enable a defendant “to prepare for trial.”¹[1] “An indictment is subject to a special demurrer if it is not perfect in form or if the accused is entitled to more information.”²[2] For example, special demurrers have been upheld by the Georgia Court of Appeals where the accusations in a criminal case “did not track the language of the statute”³[3] or where the indictment was “generic” and did not inform a defendant “of the facts constituting the offence alleged against him.”⁴[4]

The counts quashed by Judge McAfee all relation to various alleged efforts to solicit public officials to violate their oath of office. It was alleged in the indictment that the Defendants solicited Georgia officials “to violate their oaths of the Georgia Constitution and the United States Constitution.” Judge McAfee rightly observed that “the incorporation of the United States and Georgia Constitutions is so generic as to compel this Court to grant the special demurrers.” He reasoned that these oaths contain “hundreds of clauses” and are interpreted by scholars “to contain dramatically different meanings.”

Judge McAfee also took issue with the failure of detail regarding these counts:

“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 Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways. Under the standards articulated by our appellate courts, the special demurrer must be granted, and Counts 2, 5, 6, 23, 28, and 38 quashed.”⁵[5]

What does this mean going forward? A couple things.

First, this does not dismiss the entire indictment. All other charges against the remaining Defendants are still operative, including the RICO charges.

Second, these counts aren’t dismissed with prejudice. The State may seek a reindictment which would supplement these six counts. Theoretically, the reindictment would fix the problems observed by Judge McAfee by providing more details concerning the parts of the oaths of office the Defendants asked Georgia officials to violate, and by specifying the underlying felony being solicited. In the alternative, the State may appeal Judge McAfee’s ruling. We find it more likely that the State re-indicts. (Techno Fog/Substack, 3/13/2024)