ATLANTA — Attorneys tasked with defending former President Donald Trump and his allies want to find out what prospective Fulton County jurors think about Trump and other high-profile people charged in the Georgia racketeering case.
Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell are scheduled to go on trial next week.
All the attorneys got together Monday to craft the questions to ask the potential jurors for the case.
“This is not an ordinary case,” said Scott Grubman, attorney for Chesebro.
[SPECIAL SECTION: The Georgia Election Investigation]
Chesebro and Powell are accused of racketeering and being involved in the attempt to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election.
The January 6 Commission called Chesebro one of the architects of the false electors scheme.
Powell once served as Trump’s attorney.
Both sides seem to grasp just how big this case is.
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“I believe it would be a big mistake for us to treat this case like a normal case because it’s unprecedented in the history of Georgia jurisprudence,” Grubman said.
The defense wanted to ask potential jurors true or false questions like: “I think that Trump and his associates tried to steal the election and throw out my vote.”
And: “I think every single person who is accused of helping Donald Trump try to overturn the election should be punished.”
Prosecutors objected and accused the defense of trying to bend the law.
“He stated he said he wanted you to disregard the law and the case law on what’s going on because it’s a high-profile case,” prosecutor Alex Bernick said.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee indicated a reluctance to ask those kinds of questions and also told attorneys he expects a long trial.
“Giving everyone an expectation of when we’d be off and we’d be on, and then I’d tighten it instead of a range to just say five months. Maybe we’ll do better,” McAfee said.
That’s five or six months for just the first two defendants in this case.
There are 16 other defendants too, including Trump.
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