A Georgia judge has rejected Kenneth Chesebro's request to withdraw his guilty plea in his case involving President-elect Donald Trump's alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, The Hill reported. Chesbro was formerly a lawyer for Trump and was part of a sweeping case against Trump and 17 others in his orbit.
Last year, Chesebro and his legal representative reached a plea deal just before becoming the first of the group to go on trial. He pleaded guilty to a single charge he was facing as Trump was shocked by the brazenness of the Georgia prosecution.
However, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee retooled the indictment and removed several charges. One of those was the single charge the former Trump attorney had already accepted the deal for.
Despite this fact, McAfee denied Chesebro's request on the basis that it was unworkable "in more ways than one," the judge claimed. "The Defendant has already submitted a plea in response to this indictment — one of guilt," he wrote.
McAfee took exception to many problems with Chesebro's request. For starters, Chesebro never successfully argued against the charge, and now the request to dismiss it is too late in the process.
His attorney countered by claiming it could be considered a "motion in arrest of judgment," which is a challenge to the validity of the charge. McAfee struck that down as well, citing Chesebro's sentencing under the First Offender Act.
The Georgia statute "defers further proceedings while the charge remains pending for the duration of the sentence," but there never was a judgment in the case. McAfee noted that this nullified Chesebro's request.
"No final judgment occurs. Therefore, there can be no motion in arrest of judgment here," McAfee said.
Chesebro's attorney, Manny Arora, acknowledged the judge's decision was reasonable in light of the facts of the situation.The only other route right now will be to file a habeas corpus petition to further examine the legality of the overall case.
While Chesebro might not get a reprieve from his guilty plea, the entire case has been coming apart at the seams. According to NBC News, Trump's attorneys now argue that the case against him should be thrown out following the election.
Trump is the incoming president and will be immune from all prosecution once he takes the White House, the defense argues. However, that case had problems even before Trump's electoral victory.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was prosecuting the case, had a considerable conflict of interest. According to Fox News, she has also been stonewalling Judicial Watch's subpoena for communications between her office and special counsel Jack Smith, who was in charge of Trump's federal investigation.
"Fani Willis is something else. We’ve been doing this work for 30 years, and this is the first time in our experience a government official has been found in default for not showing up in court to answer an open records lawsuit," Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch President, said.
As Trump heads to the White House, it becomes increasingly clear that these efforts to stop him were all for nothing. Unfortunately, Chesebro got caught up in Georgia's version and can't seem to find a way out just yet.
