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October 19, 2023
Sydney Powell, legal adviser to former Prez Trump, cuts plea deal to avoid incarceration in Georgia election prosecution
As reported in this new AP piece, "Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to reduced charges Thursday over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia, becoming the second defendant in the sprawling case to reach a deal with prosecutors." Here is more:
Powell, who was charged alongside Trump and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law, entered the plea just a day before jury selection was set to start in her trial. She pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors accusing her of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties.
As part of the deal, she will serve six years of probation, will be fined $6,000 and will have to write an apology letter to Georgia and its residents. She also agreed to testify truthfully against her co-defendants at future trials....
Powell, 68, was initially charged with racketeering and six other counts as part of a wide-ranging scheme to keep the Republican president in power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. Prosecutors say she also participated in an unauthorized breach of elections equipment in a rural Georgia county elections office. The acceptance of a plea deal is a remarkable about-face for a lawyer who, perhaps more than anyone else, strenuously pushed baseless conspiracy theories about a stolen election in the face of extensive evidence to the contrary....
Powell was scheduled to go on trial on Monday with lawyer Kenneth Chesebro after each filed a demand for a speedy trial. The development means that Chesebro will go on trial by himself, though prosecutors said earlier that they also planned to look into the possibility of offering him a plea deal. Jury selection was set to start Friday. Chesebro’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday on whether he would also accept a plea deal.
A lower-profile defendant in the case, bail bondsman Scott Graham Hall, last month pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges. He was sentenced to five years of probation and agreed to testify in further proceedings.
October 19, 2023 at 11:18 AM | Permalink
Comments
Yes, she cut a deal with a bad jury pool and an overreaching prosecution. Score one for tyranny.
Posted by: federalist | Oct 19, 2023 1:47:30 PM
This woman is a disgrace to the legal profession. She should have been disbarred a year ago. Maybe she can partially redeem herself by helping convict Trump, the most malignant and pernicious politician in American history.
Posted by: anon | Oct 20, 2023 12:43:26 AM
Several years ago, she authored a book, Licensed to Lie, in which she detailed corruption in the DOJ that she experienced, firsthand, in several appeals on which she worked. I was very impressed with that work. Now with hindsight, the irony doesn't escape me when I think of the title of that book and the crimes to which she's admitted. Like many in the Trump orbit, she threw away her considerable legal talent to please the king.
Posted by: Redlon | Oct 20, 2023 5:28:13 AM
How is she a disgrace? Has it now become illegal to lobby government officials?
Posted by: federalist | Oct 20, 2023 9:56:13 AM
Redlon --
She was over the edge when she wrote her screed against DOJ and she's stayed over the edge. It's not a change in her; it's a continuation. Still, as federalist says, criminalizing legal advice, even crackpot legal advice, has some dangers. I dealt with some pretty questionable behavior from defense counsel when I was an AUSA, but I thought the dangers of charging it outweighed the dangers of tolerating it no matter how much I had to hold my nose.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Oct 20, 2023 4:46:23 PM
Bill Otis: It's astonishing to me that attorneys as smart, well-educated and experienced as Sydney Powell and Ken Cheesbro could put themselves in the positions they did, which have led them to indictments and guilty pleas, which will in all likelihood be the ends of their legal careers (disbarment). Those "fake elector" memos that Cheesbro wrote are plainly not what lawyers normally do. His Memos amounted to providing roadmaps showing the client (the Trump Campaign) how to commit crimes. Even in his Memo, Cheesbro admitted that what he was suggesting was dubious and probably would not stand up at the U.S. Supreme Court. What was he thinking? He should have known better. All I can think is that Cheesbro and Powell were intoxicated by being in Trump's inner circle, battling for a prize (4 more years of Trump as POTUS) that makes getting the death penalty against a serial killer pale by comparison. They got too caught up in winning for Trump (at all costs) and lost their moral compasses bearings; really a kind of insanity.
Posted by: Jim Gormley | Oct 20, 2023 7:58:30 PM
Jim Gormley --
Some people are dazzled by power and lose their bearings. This is especially likely if their bearings weren't real good to start with, as Sydney's weren't. It's too bad, but adults have to be responsible for their own lives and decisions.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Oct 20, 2023 10:51:07 PM
Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
Posted by: anon | Oct 21, 2023 9:44:26 AM
Federalist, you ask how is Powell a disgrace if she simply lobbied government officials?
Had she simply done that, I would agree there was no disgrace. But, as I under it she swore in open court that she, in six instances, conspired to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties. By engaging in this criminal conduct, she disgraced the legal profession.
Posted by: Amy | Oct 21, 2023 9:53:05 AM
Mr. Gormley writes that “It's astonishing to me that attorneys as smart, well-educated and experienced as Sydney Powell and Ken Cheesbro could put themselves in the positions they did, which have led them to indictments and guilty pleas, which will in all likelihood be the ends of their legal careers (disbarment).”
Not so astonishing. Education and experience does not protect lawyers who act from misplaced loyalty to their clients or who are seduced by charismatic charlatans like Trump. See partial list educated and experienced lawyers convicted of felonies and disbarred in Watergate crimes (Charles Colson, G. Bradford Cook, John Dean, John Ehrlichman, Herbert W. Kalmbach, Egil Krogh, G. Gordon Liddy, John N. Mitchell, Richard Nixon, George A. Spater, Gordon C. Strachan)
Posted by: anon12 | Oct 21, 2023 10:09:12 AM
anon12 --
Nixon was disbarred in one jurisdiction, New York. He was never convicted of a crime. Indeed, he was never criminally charged, although there was a draft indictment.
Justice Abe Fortas was also never criminally charged, but like Nixon had to resign in disgrace.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Oct 21, 2023 12:13:07 PM
The Kraken dropped a big one on her.
Posted by: anon14 | Oct 23, 2023 7:08:34 AM
