Former president Donald Trump on Thursday petitioned a judge overseeing the 2020 election case in Georgia to separate his case from the co-defendants who asked that they receive a speedy trial.
Defense attorney Steven Sadow wrote in the new filing that Trump would not have enough time to prepare for a trial on October 23, when co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro’s trial is set to begin. Trump would suffer “substantial adverse procedural and substantive ‘effects’” if he’s rushed into the same time frame and does not have his case severed from the others, Sadow argued. Trump’s lawyers cited a state-court filing, which highlighted the potential problems with demanding a speedy trial.
“Respectfully, requiring less than two months preparation time to defend a 98-page indictment, charging 19 defendants, with 41 various charges including a RICO conspiracy charge with 161 Overt Acts, Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer, False Statements and Writings, Forgery, Influencing Witnesses, Computer Crimes, Conspiracy to Defraud the State, and other offenses would violate President Trump’s federal and state constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law,” Sadow wrote.
The legal filing came down on the same day as Trump’s not-guilty plea, following his indictment in Fulton County, Ga., on felony charges of seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state. Trump was scheduled to be arraigned in Fulton County Superior Court in September but will no longer have to appear, having entered his plea remotely.
Trump and his 18 co-defendants were indicted on August 14 by a grand jury convened by Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis. Among the other defendants named in the indictment are former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows as well as several members of Trump’s former legal team, including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, and Sidney Powell, who also requested a speedy trial.
In a Tuesday court filing, Willis asked a judge to expedite the cases of all 19 defendants and try them together.
“At an absolute minimum, the Court should set Defendant Powell’s trial and that of any other defendant who may file a speedy trial demand on the same date as Defendant Chesebro’s,” Willis wrote.