The Legal Circle Closes

Dear Readers, If you are of the opinion that Donald Trump’s phone call, to “find” 11,780 votes in Georgia, was perfect, this piece will disappoint you. The reality is our elections laws are sacrosanct and need to be vigilantly protected.

Fani Willis’ massive indictment is intentionally complicated, weaving specific acts of criminality into a “Racketeering” (or RICO) count. The beauty is this gave her authority to reach criminal acts outside of Fulton County, instead of being confined to Atlanta.

What happened in Coffee County, its election machines as being compromised, did not directly impact Atlanta, even if an affront to our state election. The Racketeering count binds everything together in Fulton County and allows her to seek justice of those who tampered with the Coffee County voting devices.

A number of co-defendants have pled guilty, a healthy trickle likely to eventually become a flood. As yet, there are no guilty pleas extracted to the RICO count, although they touch on various plots to “steal” the vote for Donald Trump in 2020.

Sydney Powell, an attorney, and one of the loudest voices falsely alleging the 2020 election was a fraud, pled guilty to six (6) misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to interfere with an election. This will, at least temporarily, keep her law license, as no felony was involved, subject to the review of state bars. She avoids jail time, as long as she testifies truthfully in subsequent proceedings, presumably about the shenanigans in Coffee County.

Kenneth Chesebro pled guilty to a single felony count of conspiracy to file false election documents. As with Ms. Powell, his bar license is not automatically revoked, he received no jail time (5 years probation) in exchange for his testimony. His knowledge of the multi-prong attempt to undermine faith in the 2020 election results moves closer to Donald Trump, involving the fake elector plot.

Ms. Powell pled guilty on the day before a jury was being convened, and Mr. Chesebro on the very same day. As such, they had the benefit of viewing ALL of Ms. Willis’ evidence against them, because of discovery rules. Much evidence is in the” public domain,” but not everything. Likely, the peak they each had destroyed their confidence in an acquittal.

Jenna Ellis did not have this benefit. Frustrated by Donald Trump’s failure to provide her with financial support, she threw in the legal towel days later and followed her suit. She pled guilty to a felony charge of aiding and abetting a false statement, with five (5) years of probation, again subject to providing truthful testimony. This is for acting as a spokesperson spreading lies about the election results. In addition, she has to perform 100 hours of community service, meaning that each defendant received an incrementally harsh sentence in exchange for their guilty plea.

The reality is that the legal career of each of these attorneys is dusted; state bars are taking notice. Hence, each guilty plea will have real consequences on their lives, although they have avoided jail time. There are now 4 out of 19 defendants who have pled guilty, admitted their wrongs, and avoided prison time. The pressure mounts on the remaining 15 to do the same, although we are likely to start seeing at least some incarceration as an element of any plea bargain – the sooner you plead guilty, the better the deal.

The “dirty” five are Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Jeffrey Clark, and John Eastman. As a prosecutor, Ms. Willis is working her way up the chain to get them. She will likely want to winnow her case down and get guilty pleas from the rest. This indictment is too massive to try more than once, and it needs to be pared to a manageable few.

We can expect over the next few months, more and more will try to save their skin and come to the table to plead guilty. There is enormous pressure to do so, with alacrity, as the deals are already becoming progressively harsh. Once we get down to less than 10 remaining co-defendants, a trial date will be set … and, then a few more may drop off.

Likely, by August or September trial will start, without Department of Justice protections about election-eve prosecutions. It is entirely likely that come November of 2024, Donald Trump will be sitting in a courtroom in Atlanta, as opposed to campaigning and holding rallies. The stress test to our election will never be stronger.

Warner Robins attorney Jim Rockefeller is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Houston County, and a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami. Owner of Rockefeller Law Center, Jim has been in private practice since 2000. E-mail your comments or confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com.

A. James Rockefeller 478-953-6955 ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com Word count (including byline): 797

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