The Fulton County, Georgia, judge presiding over former President Donald Trump‘s 2020 election subversion case rebuffed District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday over her bid to try all 19 defendants together.
“The Court joins the skepticism expressed by several federal courts that denying severance always ensures efficiency, especially in ‘mega trials’ such as this,” Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee wrote in an order. The judge’s ruling means Trump will not be tried on Oct. 23 alongside at least two of his co-defendants who requested a speedy trial.
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Severing “the remaining 17 co-defendants is simply a procedural and logistical inevitability,” McAfee wrote, meaning that for now, defendants Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro are the only two heading to trial next month.
Willis’s team appeared aware that its request to hold a joint trial for all 19 defendants would be difficult for McAfee to grant. The team wanted the judge to require defendants seeking to sever their cases from Powell and Chesebro to waive their right to a speedy trial to avoid a scenario in which someone charged in the case might try to start a trial in the middle of proceedings against other co-defendants.
Prosecutors argued in a Wednesday filing that “multiple lengthy trials would create an enormous strain on the judicial resources of the Fulton County Superior Court.”
But McAfee suggested during his first livestreamed hearing last week that it “seems a bit unrealistic” that a trial could be held in October for all 19 defendants, signaling his willingness to deny Willis’s request.
Trump attorney Steven Sadow filed a motion on Tuesday night saying the former president would waive his right to a speedy trial in exchange for being severed from any co-defendant who seeks one, but he did not specify a preferred trial date start.
McAfee vowed to have weekly check-ins with defendants who have requested a speedy trial and is likely to rule on three motions from Chesebro and Powell during the livestreamed hearing on Thursday. McAfee ruled last week that the pair would be held to trial together on Oct. 23, rejecting attempts to split their cases from each other.
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Chesebro and Powell are seeking answers to motions such as a request to speak with grand jurors who handed up the indictment, one to unseal transcripts from witnesses who testified before the special grand jury that recommended criminal charges, and a third to disclose the names of those described by prosecutors as unindicted co-conspirators in the sweeping racketeering case brought by Willis.
The hearing began at 10 a.m. and is streamed on McAfee’s YouTube channel.
