A Georgia judge has rejected former Trump campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro's attempt to invalidate his guilty plea in the Fulton County election interference case.
Chesebro was one of 19 defendants charged in August 2023 indictment Accused former President Trump and others of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.
Chesbro pleaded guilty Charged with conspiracy to file false documents in October 2023. He was sentenced under Georgia's First Offender Act, which allows the charge to be removed from his record if he successfully completes probation without any violations.
Earlier this month, Chesebro's attorney asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to dismiss the plea deal after he rejected Chesebro's plea to guilty. His lawyers argued that the petition should be dismissed because it violates his rights to due process.
But McAfee rejected the proposal as “procedurally flawed in several respects.” He said Chesebro “has already entered a plea in response to this indictment – one of guilty plea.”
He also said that Chesebro's motion was not a “legitimate motion in arrest of judgment” – Chesebro was calling on McAfee to withhold judgment because of a defect. McAfee explained that under the First Offender Act, Chesebro had pleaded guilty “prior to a judgment of guilt” and “without entering a judgment of guilt”. Therefore, McAfee argued in the decision, “There is no final judgment…Therefore, there can be no arrest of judgment here.”
The indictment accused Chesbro of, in a memo to Trump allies, proposing “a bold, controversial strategy” to overturn the election: appointing alternate electors loyal to Trump in several states.
This proposal and at least one other memorandum he wrote were included in the Georgia indictment as overt acts “in furtherance of the conspiracy.” The seven original cases against him stemmed from a scheme to submit a list of fake voters from Georgia.
The Fulton County election interference case against the president-elect remains on hold after the Georgia Court of Appeals temporarily halted proceedings in June. The appeals court is reviewing a trial judge's decision that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to prosecute the case when special prosecutor Nathan Wade resigned. After this revelation, Trump and several of his co-defendants called for Willis to be removed from the case. had a romantic relationship With Wade. Trump and others accused Willis of improperly benefiting from the relationship, charges she denies.