{"id":2007253,"date":"2023-08-21T17:14:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T21:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pre-trial-conferences-held-for-some-indicted-michigan-gop-electors\/"},"modified":"2023-08-21T17:15:56","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T21:15:56","slug":"pre-trial-conferences-held-for-some-indicted-michigan-gop-electors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pre-trial-conferences-held-for-some-indicted-michigan-gop-electors\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-trial conferences held for indicted Michigan GOP electors."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpre-trial-conferences-held-for-some-indicted-michigan-gop-electors%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2007253&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<h2>Busy Day\u200c in Court \u200bfor Judge Kristen Simmons<\/h2>\n<p>It was a\u2062 busy procedural day on<strong> <\/strong>Aug. 18 for the city of Lansing\u2019s \u200b54-A \u2064District Court Judge Kristen Simmons.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Simmons presided over multiple Zoom hearings to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pre-trial-conferences-held-for-some-indicted-michigan-gop-electors\/\" title=\"Pre-trial conferences held for indicted Michigan GOP electors.\">set future court dates<\/a> for some\u2063 of the 16 Michigan Republican 2020 presidential electors.<\/p>\n<p>All \u200b16 were charged in July with eight counts each of \u200cforgery and election forgery by Michigan\u2019s Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/this-is-a-witch-hunt-michigan-gop-responds-to-criminal-charges-against-trump-2020-electors-5410578\"><strong>&#8216;This Is a Witch Hunt&#8217;: Michigan GOP Responds\u200b to Criminal Charges Against Trump 2020 Electors<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n        <br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-comp-caption\">7\/19\/2023<\/span>\n      <\/li>\n<li>\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/michigans-alternate-electors-up-to-fighting-alleged-fraud-charges-constitutional-attorney-5434519\"><strong>Michigan&#8217;s Alternate Electors Up to Fighting\u2063 Alleged Fraud Charges: Constitutional Attorney<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n        <br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-comp-caption\">7\/31\/2023<\/span>\n      <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>At\u200d their Aug. 10 arraignment, all\u2063 16 pleaded\u2062 not guilty.<\/p>\n<p>Lansing-area lawyer \u200dKurt Krause represents 82-year-old small business owner John \u200dHaggard of Charlevoix.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Krause told The Epoch Times,\u200c \u201cThe next step will be a preliminary \u2063examination \u2026 We are confident that Mr. Haggard\u2019s intent comported with the law.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe\u2063 Constitution protects Mr. Haggard\u2019s First Amendment rights to express himself, and the statutes under which the attorney general charged \u200dhim all mandate a specific intent\u200c to defraud\u200b that Mr. Haggard did not possess. Mr. Haggard has faith that he will be\u2062 vindicated in a court of law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Haggard was also elected to\u200b serve \u200bas a Trump elector in 2016.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:250px\" class=\"alignright\"><figcaption>Michigan\u200b attorney Kurt Krause. (Courtesy of Kurt Krause)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Constitutional attorney Dave \u200cKallman, who represents elector Hank Choate, a 72-year-old\u200c farmer from the small, southern Michigan, rural community of Cement \u200dCity near Jackson, described\u2062 Aug. 18\u2019s hearings as uneventful formalities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s proceedings were really just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/to-ensure-paxtons-impeachment-trial-is-fair-the-texas-senate-must-adopt-rules-that-stop-the-political-circus\/\" title=\"For a fair Paxton impeachment trial, Texas Senate needs fair rules to prevent political circus.\">pre-trial conferences<\/a>. \u2062In\u2063 our case, the judge set Nov. 2 as the \u200ddate for the next important step in the process\u2014the preliminary examination or probable cause conference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe also allowed Mr. Choate to drive his truck into Indiana and Ohio to pick up grain for \u2062his farm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Most of the other defendants were assigned Oct.\u2063 12 as the date of their next hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Kallman said that \u2063at a probable cause conference, the \u2063prosecutor must convince the \u200djudge that a crime was committed, and\u2063 that the defendant committed that crime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese charges require the prosecutor to prove specific intent to defraud or injure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>&#8216;No Proof at All&#8217;<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cDiscovery has produced numerous audio and video recordings and 103 police reports. We haven\u2019t \u200byet gone through them all, but the many that we have analyzed showed that\u2062 Ms. Nessel has no proof\u2062 at all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Choate \u200ddid \u2063not intend to defraud or injure\u2062 anybody. And, thus\u2063 far, \u2064nothing we \u200chave seen in discovery \u200bproves he did.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:230px\" class=\"alignright\"><figcaption>Attorney David Kallman\u200b (Courtesy of Kallman Legal Group)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cNessel\u2019s \u2064prosecution of Mr.\u200d Choate \u200dis nothing but a witch hunt and\u2062 abuse of power,\u201d Mr. Kallman said.<\/p>\n<p>According to Mr. Kallman,\u200c to \u2062date two of \u200cthe 16 electors haven\u2019t yet hired \u2062a lawyer, and none are represented by \u200dthe\u200b same attorney.<\/p>\n<p>If\u2064 convicted of just one count of forgery, an elector could face 14 years in \u200dprison, and\u2064 if convicted of one\u2064 count of election forgery, an elector could go to prison for\u200c five years.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Attorney General Explains Allegations<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>After federal prosecutors demonstrated little interest in the case, Ms. Nessel\u200c decided to bring the indictments herself in mid-July of 2023.<\/p>\n<p>In \u200da July 18 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/ag\/news\/press-releases\/2023\/07\/18\/michigan-attorney-general-dana-nessel-charges-16-false-electors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a> to the press, Ms. Nessel\u200c described the crimes \u200callegedly committed by the 16, saying:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/grassroots-conservatives-party-leadership-defend-indicted-michigan-gop-electors\/\" title=\"Michigan GOP electors indicted, defended by grassroots conservatives and party leadership.\">false electors\u2019 actions undermined<\/a> the public\u2019s faith in the integrity of our\u200c elections and, we believe, also plainly violated the laws by which we administer\u200d our elections\u200d in Michigan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese defendants are alleged to have met covertly in the basement of the Michigan Republican Party headquarters on Dec. \u200c14 [2020] and signed their names to\u200d multiple certificates stating they were the \u2018duly elected and qualified electors for President and Vice President of the \u200bUnited States of America for the State of Michigan.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese false documents were then transmitted to the United States Senate and National Archives in a coordinated effort to\u200d award the state\u2019s electoral votes to the \u200dcandidate of their choosing, in place\u200d of the candidates actually elected by the people of Michigan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe evidence will demonstrate\u2064 there was no legal authority\u200b for the false\u200c electors to purport\u2062 to\u2062 act as \u2018duly \u2063elected \u200dpresidential electors\u2019 and execute\u200c the false electoral documents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat \u2062the effort failed, and democracy prevailed does not erase the crimes \u200bof those who enacted the\u2063 false electors plot,\u201d said Ms. Nessel.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Selection and Duties\u200d of Electors<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Pursuant \u2062to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legislature.mi.gov\/(S(edsluw3npnevzbk2rtdf3ohv))\/documents\/mcl\/pdf\/mcl-116-1954-IV.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Michigan\u2062 law<\/a>, during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kamala-who-has-not-ruled-out-packing-supreme-court-tells-conference-an-independent-judiciary-is-critical-to-a-healthy-democracy\/\" title=\"Kamala, Who Has Not Ruled Out Packing Supreme Court, Tells Conference: \u2018An Independent Judiciary Is Critical To A Healthy Democracy\u2019\">presidential election year<\/a>, 16 electors\u2063 are chosen by the Republican Party and 16 by the Democrat Party at each party\u2019s\u2063 fall state convention\u2014conclaves that are held \u200bwell in advance of the\u200d November general\u2064 election.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, in 2020, Michigan had slates of 16 Biden electors and 16 Trump\u2062 electors, all duly elected according to the state-mandated process.<\/p>\n<p>The names of the electors certified as elected by each\u200d party are then forwarded by registered mail to the secretary of \u200dstate.<\/p>\n<p>After the \u2064result\u2063 of the popular vote of the general election has been certified by the state board\u200c of canvassers and signed off on by \u200dthe governor, the 16 electors representing \u2062the candidate who has been officially declared the winner of the popular vote assemble in the Senate chamber of the State\u200b Capitol \u200dBuilding on a day designated by\u200b Congress.<\/p>\n<p>According to\u2064 Michigan law,\u200c during the\u200c proceeding in the state\u200d senate chamber, the individual electors are legally bound to cast their electoral vote for the certified winner of the state.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>A \u2064Contested Election \u200dResult<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The problem\u2064 in 2020 was that \u2063the validity\u2064 of the result \u2063of the presidential election as certified by the state board of canvassers <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Aug. 18, Judge Kristen Simmons of Lansing&#8217;s 54-A District Court had a hectic day. She conducted numerous Zoom hearings to schedule future court dates for the 16 Michigan Republican 2020 presidential electors. These electors were charged in July with eight counts each of forgery and election forgery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":369,"featured_media":2007254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2007253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/369"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2007253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2007254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2007253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2007253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2007253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}