How extortion cases usually work in Georgia

Comment on this storycomment

The indictment of Donald Trump in Georgia is complicated. He and 18 co-defendants are charged under Georgia’s sweeping racketeering statute, which allows prosecutors to tie together multiple crimes — in this case, conspiracy to defraud the state, false statements and writings, impersonation of a public official, forgery, computer theft and dozens of others others – on a racketeering charge carrying a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.

The aim of blackmail is to pursue a high-ranking leader of a criminal enterprise, but these cases are often difficult to prosecute.

There’s so much about this particular case that’s unpredictable, but here’s how crime processes work in Georgia in general.

Typically, each defendant hires their own attorney or team of attorneys: and those attorneys have the full range of skills, according to legal experts, from some of the most experienced in the country to people who have never before defended a racketeering case. The defendants in this case span a wide range of socioeconomic and power levels: from a former President of the United States to a current Georgia Senator to a Chicago minister and former publicist for R. Kelly.

Each accused has yet to be brought to justice: mug shots, fingerprints and accounting records were just the first step. Each defendant — including Trump — is expected to return to Atlanta in the coming weeks to hear the allegations against them and file their pleas.

Any defendant can (and has already started) submitting requests to shape their trial: This means that there could be an unmanageable amount of preliminary hearings. Defendants can ask the judge to suppress certain evidence or separate their trial from the main trial. “You need a spreadsheet to keep track of things,” said Caren Morrison, a former federal prosecutor who is now a law school student at Georgia State University.

Some high-profile preliminary negotiations are already taking place. Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff in 2020, is trying to move his trial to federal court. If he succeeds and the case goes ahead, the jury pool could include parts of rural Georgia as well as the heavily Democratic Atlanta area. Federal courtrooms generally do not allow cameras or videotaping, while many Georgia judges do.

To advance his arguments, a hearing is being held Monday, which is shaping up into a mini-trial over Meadows’ involvement in the alleged conspiracy aimed at overturning Georgia results and keeping Trump in power. Georgian Foreign Minister Brad Raffensperger (right) was summoned to testify, likely around the time Trump and Meadows asked him to investigate alleged voter fraud and disqualify enough votes to offset Trump’s narrow defeat.

Other defendants could split off. Another co-defendant, attorney Kenneth Chesebro, applied for and was granted a trial in October. Trump is calling for a trial in a few years.

“New things happen every week,” Morrison said. “Legally, it’s going to be action-packed.”

Defendants can plead guilty at any time: One of the most famous Georgia racketeering cases in recent years was an Atlanta public school cheating scandal a decade ago. (It was argued by the same prosecutor who attacked Trump, now District Attorney Fani T. Willis). The original indictment in the Atlanta case included 35 defendants, but by the time the trial began, at least 20 defendants had received informed consent. Only 12 made it to court.

Legal experts say it is possible that the 19 accused in the electoral crime case will fail before a trial.

Jury selection can take months: this is because each defendant’s attorney is allowed to question any potential juror. Jury selection in another high-profile Georgia racketeering case against rapper Young Thug is still ongoing and has dragged on for months.

But the trial itself will be recognizable: It will look like any other criminal trial, legal experts say — only an order of magnitude larger and longer. The defendants are all seated in a courtroom at a long table or set of tables with their attorneys and the judge and jury. Witnesses make statements and multiple defense attorneys may cross-examine the witnesses. But no lawyer takes the floor for the group; Each defendant is on his own in presenting his arguments to the jury. Defendants can attack each other, experts say.

The fraud trial at an Atlanta school lasted nearly eight months; It is considered the longest trial in Georgia history. The jury spent nearly 50 hours deliberating over eight days, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which reported extensively on the scandal, the trial and its aftermath. Some of the jurors made handwritten notes on yellow legal pads to keep track of all statements. Eleven of the 12 defendants in the trial were convicted, including a young mother who was sentenced to a year in prison when her baby was four months old.

The appeals process, too, is like any other criminal process: any convicted defendant could appeal his case to the Georgia Circuit Court of Appeals and then to the Georgia Supreme Court. In addition, Trump and some of his associates may argue that there are federal matters, such as First Amendment protections, and may seek to appeal a Georgia Supreme Court decision to the US Supreme Court, said Clark Cunningham, a professor at the Georgia State University Law School.

A former Atlanta principal’s conviction in the cheating scandal was upheld by a Georgia appeals court in 2021. Two others tried to ask the US Supreme Court for a say, but were denied and had to report to jail.

Studying the 2020 Georgia election

Check out 3 more stories