{"id":2081937,"date":"2023-10-28T03:27:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T07:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-da-offers-nothingburger-plea-deals-to-build-parade-of-witnesses-for-later-show-trials\/"},"modified":"2023-10-28T03:31:24","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T07:31:24","slug":"georgia-da-offers-nothingburger-plea-deals-to-build-parade-of-witnesses-for-later-show-trials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-da-offers-nothingburger-plea-deals-to-build-parade-of-witnesses-for-later-show-trials\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia DA offers weak plea deals to gather witnesses for future trials."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/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%2Fgeorgia-da-offers-nothingburger-plea-deals-to-build-parade-of-witnesses-for-later-show-trials%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=2081937&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 class=\"article-content\">\n<p>In the past week, the office\u2064 of Fulton County\u2063 District\u200d Attorney Fani Willis \u200dfinalized &#8220;plea agreements&#8221; with three significant members of the group of 18 co-defendants indicted in Willis&#8217; rambling Racketeer \u2064Influenced and\u200c Corrupt \u200cOrganizations \u2063(&#8220;RICO&#8221;)\u2063 case filed \u2064this past August against former President Donald Trump and others.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2063pleas were with three prominent lawyers \u200din the post-2020 election challenges: Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, and Jenna Ellis. Each was charged \u2063with multiple felonies, including the lead RICO count, carrying potential maximum penalties of many years\u2062 of incarceration. The indictment purports to\u200b allege serious felonies based on\u2063 serious wrongdoing that supposedly threatened the very\u2062 fabric of our democracy, but you wouldn&#8217;t think \u2064so from the \u200cactual deals\u2064 Willis struck.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>There is no legitimate prosecutorial reason for\u200b Willis to have struck these particular deals. Rather, these deals are designed to bolster the perceived, but not \u200dthe real, strength of her case against the key defendants, both now, via the media, and \u200dlater, by\u2064 parading \u2064a\u2062 string of &#8220;guilty&#8221; co-defendants as witnesses before the jury.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>Prosecutors Dropped Charges and Jail Time<\/h2>\n<p>Powell pleaded guilty\u200b to \u2064seven misdemeanors \u200dand no felonies, and the prosecutors moved to \u200bdismiss \u200bthe\u2063 seven \u2063felonies, including the\u200d RICO count they had charged against her. Chesebro pleaded guilty to one felony and\u200d the prosecutors moved to dismiss the remaining six felonies they\u2063 had charged him with in the indictment, including the RICO count.\u2062 Ellis pleaded guilty\u2064 to a newly \u200ctailored felony count of aiding and abetting another defendant (Rudy Guiliani) in his alleged making of a false statement, \u2063and \u200cthe prosecutors moved to dismiss the two felonies charged against her, \u200dincluding the RICO count.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, none of these three defendants pleaded guilty to the most serious charges against \u200cthem. Far,\u200d far from\u200c it. \u2064Further, \u2062in \u200call three deals, the prosecutors agreed not to \u2064oppose &#8220;First Offender&#8221; treatment for the \u2063cases under a \u200bGeorgia statute that permits a \u2063judge to \u200caccept guilty pleas from those with no prior criminal records, and then later \u2064remove\u200c the conviction from their record entirely if they satisfactorily complete conditions\u2062 of probation.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecutors also agreed to recommend probation-only sentences to \u200dthe\u200b court in all three\u2063 cases, which the judge\u2062 duly imposed. None of these\u200b three \u200cdefendants will spend one day in jail or have a conviction on their records for their role in supposedly \u2062undermining American democracy itself.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>When a \u2062prosecutor charges\u2064 multiple, serious felonies and offers \u2064plea deals for significantly less serious \u2064charges, \u2064carrying no jail time,\u200b and the opportunity to\u200c have \u200dthe\u200b entire case cleared off the defendant&#8217;s record, it is usually a clear sign\u200d that\u200d the prosecutor has overcharged the\u2062 case and\u2062 was not going to be able to prove the charges as alleged if forced to go to trial on them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>Deals Too Sweet to Turn Down<\/h2>\n<p>Prosecutors\u200d are simply not in the habit \u200dof developing \u200cserious\u200b felony cases and \u2063then offering plea deals \u200cthat amount to a legal &#8220;nothingburger&#8221; \u2063for\u200c the defendants involved. Even when trying to &#8220;flip&#8221; defendants to testify against\u2062 others \u200bin the case, the normal \u2062prosecutorial practice is \u2063to\u2063 still \u200brequire some\u200d significant pain in \u2062the plea deal with cooperating defendants because \u2064if they don&#8217;t, \u2064then the defense lawyers for the defendants who go to trial can argue to the jury that the deals are so sweet they shouldn&#8217;t\u200d believe a\u200b word the flipped defendants are saying.<\/p>\n<p>That is\u200c not \u200dwhat is happening with the plea \u2064deals in Trump&#8217;s Georgia case, however. These deals\u2063 with \u2064Powell, Chesebro, and Ellis \u200bare\u2064 really, really \u200bsweet deals. \u200bDeals so sweet\u2062 that \u2063no rational defense lawyer could advise the client to reject them.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecutors even agreed to ask the judge to include language in the\u200b sentencing order that said\u2064 the charges to which\u200d they were \u2064pleading were not crimes of\u200d &#8220;moral turpitude,&#8221; because such crimes can make\u2062 it more \u200dlikely that a defendant who is a \u200dlawyer will lose their\u2062 law \u200blicense. These prosecutors did\u2063 everything that could be done to craft these pleas in such a way that the defendants simply \u200ccould not turn\u2064 them down.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This extreme \u200band unusual solicitude extended even to sculpting the \u2062factual basis for \u200bthe\u200b guilty\u2062 pleas, another area where prosecutors normally require \u2062the defendants to swallow bitter medicine, but did not in these pleas. This had to\u200d be done because in order for a plea \u2062to be\u2063 accepted by\u200d the\u2064 court, the defendant has \u2062to agree not\u2062 just to\u2064 plead guilty\u200c in the abstract, but \u200crather that he or\u2064 she is\u200b guilty of a \u200bspecific crime based on \u200cspecific\u2064 facts. And\u2064 the\u200b prosecutors and defense lawyers, (and defendants who are lawyers) cannot outright lie to the court about what the facts are on which\u200b the \u2063plea is based, or whether\u2062 those facts \u200dconstitute the offense to which\u200d the person is pleading.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The factual basis that the prosecutors presented to the judge in the plea hearing in each of these\u200c cases was clearly massaged to allow the defendants to honestly agree \u2062that \u2062the stated facts\u2063 were true, but unusually here those facts did not make out the elements of the\u200b charged offense, or they omitted facts which might have caused a\u200c judge to question whether the\u200c offense was, in fact, established.<\/p>\n<p>In Ellis&#8217; case,\u200b this manipulation\u200c was taken to a ridiculous level. Her guilty plea \u200bwas one in name only. She never admitted that she knew that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-demands-inspector-general-investigation-into-tracy-stone-mannings-allegedly-false-statements-about-eco-terrorism-case\/\" title=\"Watchdog Demands Inspector General Investigation Into Tracy Stone-Manning\u2019s Allegedly False Statements About Eco-Terrorism Case\">allegedly false statements<\/a> were false at the time they were made, which is a fundamental requirement for a criminal\u200b false statement. Rather,\u2064 she said\u2063 that &#8220;if \u200cshe knew then what she knows now,&#8221; she would have acted differently.<\/p>\n<p>Even her assertion that she failed to do &#8220;due \u200ddiligence&#8221; at the time is not &#8220;reckless disregard for the truth&#8221; under the \u2064normal legal understanding of that term. It is\u200b also extremely unlikely that a merely &#8220;reckless&#8221; statement\u200d would satisfy the Georgia false statements statute, which requires a &#8220;knowing and willful&#8221; \u2064false statement.<\/p>\n<p>Significantly, the prosecutor&#8217;s \u200cfactual basis \u2064did not\u2062 say that the\u2063 seven statements made by Guiliani were false due to contrary facts. For example, it was determined to\u200c not be true that 10,315 or more dead \u2064people voted in Georgia. Rather,\u200c the factual basis offered to \u2062the judge was only that Georgia&#8217;s\u2064 investigations\u2062 had determined there was no &#8220;widespread fraud&#8221; that &#8220;could have affected the outcome \u2062of the 2020 presidential election \u2062in Georgia.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>A Transaction, Not a \u200dFavor<\/h2>\n<p>In reality, Ellis&#8217; plea was a farce. It was a concoction \u2064between the prosecutors&#8217; office and her counsel to &#8220;find something&#8221; she could \u2064plead to that they could smuggle past a judge who wouldn&#8217;t critically question an agreed \u200cplea deal (although \u200cthat is\u2062 supposed to be one of the court&#8217;s roles in that \u200csituation).<\/p>\n<p>The prosecutors \u2063in this case\u2062 went to these extreme lengths for an unusual reason.\u2063 They aren&#8217;t doing\u200b it out of the\u2062 goodness of their \u200bhearts. It&#8217;s a transaction. They are getting something they can&#8217;t otherwise \u200bget. And\u2064 the\u200d reason the prosecutor can&#8217;t get it from witnesses \u2014 without the deal \u2014 is \u200cthat defendants have\u200d a 5th Amendment right\u200d to be silent at \u200btrial.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors cannot call any defendant as a witness \u200din trial, even if \u2062they only want them to \u200dincriminate\u200d others, not themselves. The only \u2064way prosecutors can get juicy testimony from these witnesses is to\u200b do a deal with them: a plea deal if \u2063they have been charged, or potentially an immunity deal \u2062such as the one that Special\u200c Counsel \u200cJack Smith allegedly struck with Mark Meadows last week in \u200cTrump&#8217;s DC federal case.<\/p>\n<p>But\u2062 that is not what is going on in\u200c the Georgia case.\u200c These three defendants\u2064 will not give the prosecution any testimony or\u2063 evidence\u200c that the\u200b prosecutors\u200b don&#8217;t already have from \u2062non-charged witnesses, or the statements,\u2062 documents, and memos previously authored by all of these\u200c defendants, \u200bwhich are admissible\u200d at the trial\u2064 already. The testimony \u2062of Powell, Chesebro, and Ellis is extremely unlikely to add anything new to the\u200c case. It is highly doubtful any of them will testify that they or Trump or any of the other many lawyers involved said, knew,\u2064 or believed they were doing something illegal at\u200b the time\u2064 of the events in 2020 \u200band early 2021.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s for this \u200breason that \u200cTrump and\u200c his lawyers\u2062 this week\u200c made only mild statements about these pleas, or pointed out that if the three\u200b testified truthfully, \u2062as required under\u2063 their plea \u2063deals,\u2062 it would\u200b not hurt Trump and may even help \u2063him.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Guilty&#8217; Witnesses Don&#8217;t Need to Testify<\/h2>\n<p>Some \u2063might think that the prosecutors \u200dcould present the \u200cfact that these\u200c defendants plead\u2064 guilty to the jury at \u200clater trials as proof of the guilt \u2063of defendants who go to \u200ctrial. However,\u200b Supreme Court precedent forbids the\u200d direct use of \u200bthe\u2063 guilty pleas of \u2064witnesses to prove that other defendants who go\u200b to trial are also guilty. The prosecutors will not tell the\u200b jury something\u200c like, &#8220;Ms. Ellis plead guilty to helping Mr. Guiliani \u2064make\u2062 a false statement \u200band \u2063that is \u2062evidence that he did make a false\u2062 statement.&#8221;\u2063 Nor can prosecutors\u2063 simply introduce \u200bthe fact\u2064 of the guilty pleas or documents about the guilty pleas as exhibits in the\u2062 trials \u200dof other\u2063 defendants.<\/p>\n<p>These practices violate \u200bthe rights of the defendants going to trial \u200cto confront their \u200caccusers under\u200c the 5th \u2063Amendment, but \u2064they also do not constitute relevant \u2062evidence of\u2062 the guilt of the person \u2063on trial. The fact that one person agrees that their conduct is illegal in a\u2063 plea deal doesn&#8217;t prove that another person is guilty, even in conspiracy or\u200b aiding \u200dand abetting scenarios, and thus the courts don&#8217;t\u2063 permit prosecutors to\u2063 prove their \u2064cases this way.<\/p>\n<p>So, in\u2064 short,\u200d there is no \u2062legal reason \u2064for Willis \u2064to have entered \u200dinto these kinds \u200dof\u2063 super-sweet pleas\u2064 with these defendants in this case. But she did so. And the reason Willis did so is that in\u200d practical reality, if\/when \u2062Trump or Guiliani or Eastman come to trial in this case, she will do covertly what the law doesn&#8217;t permit her to do overtly.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecutors won&#8217;t argue to the jury \u200dthat Trump, \u200dGuiliani, or\u2062 Eastman are guilty because Powell, Chesebro, and Ellis, (and potentially others by then) plead guilty. They won&#8217;t have \u200cto argue that. They will simply parade a line of witnesses who have all pleaded \u2062guilty to something in this case before\u200d the jury. The jury will get\u2064 the message.<\/p>\n<p>And thus, \u200cthe true purpose of these nothing burger\u200c pleas is\u200c revealed: not to \u2064acquire evidence to present, but to create a guilty parade, now, and in \u200cthe show trial to come.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"> <\/p>\n<h2> What message does offering plea deals\u200d to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-epstein-madam-wouldnt-help-find-tapes-of-bill-clinton-because-it-would-hurt-hillarys-2016-run\/\" title=\"Report: Epstein Madam Wouldn\u2019t Help Find Tapes Of Bill Clinton Because It Would Hurt Hillary\u2019s 2016 Run\">high-profile individuals<\/a> in political\u200d cases send about accountability for those in power<\/h2>\n<p><span>  \u200dOr licensed professional may face professional disciplinary consequences. This further \u200bdemonstrates that the \u2064prosecutors themselves do not view\u2063 these charges as serious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-da-offers-nothingburger-plea-deals-to-build-parade-of-witnesses-for-later-show-trials\/\" title=\"Georgia DA offers weak plea deals to gather witnesses for future trials.\">offenses warranting long-term consequences<\/a> for the defendants.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>These plea deals are \u2064essentially a slap\u2063 on the wrist for Powell, \u200cChesebro, and Ellis. They are getting off easy for their alleged involvement in a case that supposedly threatened the very\u200c foundation\u200c of\u200d our democracy. It is\u2062 difficult to\u2063 reconcile the seriousness of the charges in the indictment with the \u200dleniency of these\u2063 plea agreements.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>The\u200b Public Perception<\/h2>\n<p>By offering these lenient plea deals, Prosecutor Willis\u200c is aiming to create a public perception \u200cthat she has strong evidence against the key defendants. \u2064She hopes to use the guilty pleas of these co-defendants as a means of bolstering her case before the jury. However, such tactics can\u2063 also backfire and \u2063damage the prosecution\u2019s credibility.<\/p>\n<p>The public may question why \u200bWillis offered such favorable deals if\u2062 she believed she had a \u2062solid case against Trump and the others. It raises doubts about the strength of the\u2064 evidence and whether the charges were overblown \u200cfrom the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, these plea \u2062deals could have broader\u2064 implications for future cases involving political \u2062figures. If individuals involved in\u2064 high-profile cases can escape serious consequences through plea deals, it \u2063may send a message that \u2063accountability for those in power is not\u200b a\u2062 priority.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>The plea deals offered to\u200c Sidney Powell, \u2064Kenneth Chesebro, and \u200cJenna Ellis\u2064 in the RICO\u200d case\u200c against Donald Trump and\u2064 others are\u200b cause for concern. The leniency of\u200c these deals raises questions about the\u200d strength of the prosecution&#8217;s case and the severity of the charges in the indictment. It also highlights the potential for plea deals to undermine public trust in the criminal justice system, particularly when political figures are involved.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors have a duty to\u200d pursue justice and \u2064hold\u2062 individuals accountable for their actions. By \u200coffering such favorable deals, Prosecutor Willis may have undermined \u200bthe legitimacy of her case\u2063 and undermined public confidence in the criminal justice system. It is essential that the \u2064pursuit of justice is not compromised for the\u200b sake\u200c of political optics\u200c or expediency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fulton County DA Fani Willis recently reached &#8220;plea agreements&#8221; with three key members of the 18 co-defendants indicted in her extensive RICO case against ex-President Donald Trump and associates. These agreements involve three notable attorneys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2513,"featured_media":2081938,"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":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2081937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"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\/2081937","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\/2513"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2081937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2081937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2081938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2081937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2081937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2081937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}