The Fulton County judge overseeing the sprawling election interference probe involving former President Donald Trump on Thursday split the case’s 19 defendants into two groups for trial — and suggested that more divisions could be merited.
Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that 17 of the defendants would be split off — or severed, in legal parlance — from Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, who have demanded speedy trials and are set to be tried on Oct. 23.
In a seven-page order, McAfee said splitting off the 17 defendants who did not want a speedy trial was “simply a procedural and logistical inevitability.” He cited defense attorneys with scheduling conflicts this fall and parties who wanted more time to examine the state’s voluminous discovery — evidence and other information which must be shared between the parties before trial.
“The precarious ability of the Court to safeguard each defendant’s due process rights and ensure adequate pretrial preparation on the current accelerated track weighs heavily, if not decisively, in favor of severance,” McAfee wrote.
The ruling is a blow to the Fulton District Attorney’s office, which argued in favor of keeping all 19 defendants together. In a court filing earlier this week, DA Fani Willis said trying defendants in multiple groups would create a “logistical quagmire” for courthouse staff, witnesses and jurors and that it was in the interest of judicial economy to move the group together.