Prosecutors who have accused former President Donald Trump and 18 others of participating in an illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia maintain that all of the defendants should be tried together, citing efficiency and fairness.
The case was brought under the state’s anti-racketeering law, meaning the same witnesses and evidence will be used in any trial, they wrote in a brief they said was filed Tuesday. Holding several lengthy trials instead would “create an enormous strain on the judicial resources” of the county superior court and would randomly favor the defendants tried later, who would have the advantage of seeing the state’s evidence and arguments ahead of time, prosecutors wrote.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said last month in announcing the charges that she wanted to try all 19 defendants together. Two of the people charged have filed speedy trial demands, and Judge Scott McAfee set their trial for Oct. 23. At a hearing last week, he said it seemed “a bit unrealistic” to imagine that all of the defendants could be tried that soon and asked Willis’ team for a brief explaining why they felt that was necessary.
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