Case Dismissal
A Nevada judge dismissed a case against six Republicans who submitted false certificates declaring Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election.
Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus ruled that the state should have filed the case in another county.
Legal Proceedings and Charges
The defendants were charged in December with offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument, felonies that come with a maximum of nine years in prison. Among those charged were Nevada State Party GOP chair Michael McDonald and vice chair Jim DeGraffenreid.
The state plans to “immediately” appeal the judge’s decision, as the statute of limitations ran out shortly after the case was filed in Clark County, making refiling the case in another jurisdiction impossible.
Appeal and Future Actions
The appeal will go to the state Supreme Court, which could decide the case or send it to a lower appeals court. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford stated that the case would be taken directly to the state Supreme Court.
Defense attorneys argued that bringing the case to another grand jury in another venue would violate the three-year statute of limitations on filing charges, which expired in December.
Broader Context
This case is part of a broader pattern where Trump supporters in Nevada and six other states that President Biden won sent official-looking documents to Congress, falsely claiming Trump was the true victor.
Other fake elector schemes have been organized in battleground states such as Wisconsin and Arizona. This dismissal marks another legal setback for the criminal cases against Trump, his associates, and state-level allies over the 2020 election.
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