An attorney for Sidney Powell on Wednesday asked a Georgia court to sever her case from her co-defendants, saying that her inclusion with them in a trial would “prejudice” her own case.
Powell was charged as one of 18 co-defendants alongside former President Donald Trump under the state’s RICO Act, which is typically used to prosecute organized crime. The grand jury indictment brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis included two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud for Powell, in addition to other charges.
Both Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who was influential in the alleged scheme to disrupt the certification of electoral votes by appointing alternate electors, have both asked for a speedy trial. Their lawyers sought to avoid them being tried together.
Powell’s attorney Brian Rafferty told the court that Powell had little to do with most of the accusations in the indictment, was not the “driving force” and that her case was limited to charges involving illegally copying election files in Coffee County, Georgia.
“Ms. Powell had nothing to do with most of it,” Rafferty said, adding that trying her with others accused of serious crimes in a complicated case would mean she could not get a fair trial.
Chesebro’s attorney also asked that his client’s case be severed from Powell’s because there had been “no direct contact or communication” between the two and no “overlap between the overt acts or the substantive charges.”
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Chesebro and Powell would be tried together, with a trial scheduled to begin on Oct. 23. The judge asked prosecutors to submit a brief on whether that trial would include any of the other co-defendants, including Trump.
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