Judge denies former Trump lawyer’s motion to dismiss RICO charges using Monty Python reference – WSB Atlanta
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Georgia Election Indictment Judge FILE – Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee hears motions from attorneys representing Ken Chesebro and Sidney Powell in Atlanta on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. Past high-profile trials suggest additional scrutiny and stress for the four judges overseeing the indictments against former President Donald Trump. But the challenge facing Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee in Georgia is unlike any of the others. (Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool, File) (Jason Getz/AP)
ATLANTA — Former Trump attorney Kenneth Cheseboro, one of the 19 people indicted in Georgia’s election interference case, has had another blow to have the charges against him dropped.
The January 6th Commission said Chesebro was one of the architects of the false electors scheme here in Georgia and six other states across the country.
[SPECIAL SECTION: The Georgia Election Investigation]
Earlier this week Chesebro had filed a motion to have the RICO charges against him dropped saying “the District Attorney Office’s neglected to file the oath of Special Assistant District Attorney (“ADA”) Nathan Wade.”
“Because Mr. Wade did not file his oaths as expressly required by law, any actions that he took prior to filing the oath on September 27, 2023, are void as a matter of law,” Chesebro’s attorneys wrote in a filing this week. “This includes presenting this case to the criminal grand jury and obtaining an indictment in return. Accordingly, the indictment in this case must be dismissed.”
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In his order, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said Georgia law says “official acts of an officer shall be valid regardless of his omission to take and file the oath, except in cases where so specifically declared.”
Chesebro’s motion even acknowledged this provision, McAfee wrote, saying it was “tucked away in a footnote with only the unsupported assertion that ‘prosecuting a criminal case is one such specially declared situation.’”
In his ruling, McAfee also referenced Monty Python’s famous ‘Dead Parrot Sketch.’ During the sketch, a customer attempts to return a dead parrot to a pet store, and the store clerk continues to make unsupported claims that the bird is still alive.
“And if this parrot of a motion is somehow not yet dead, the Defendant has failed to establish how Special ADA Wade’s actions resulted in prejudice,” McAfee wrote.
Chesebro is expected to go to trial over his seven felony charges against him on Oct. 23, alongside Sidney Powell.
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Judge says no to dropping RICO charge against former Trump attorney Prosecutors consider Sidney Powell to be a key figure in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
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