A Nevada judge rejected accusations against six republicans who falsely declared that donald trump won the 2020 election in the swing state after ruling the case was brought to the wrong jurisdiction.
Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus on Friday supported defense attorneys’ argument that Las Vegas was the wrong location for the case. Holthus canceled the trial, which was scheduled for start in January.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said his office will take the case to the state Supreme Court. “The judge got it wrong and we will appeal immediately,” he said in a statement.
In December, a grand jury in Clark County indicted six republicans who participated in the so-called fake voter scheme: state Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald; party national committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid; Clark County Republican Party Chairman Jesse Law; Douglas County and National Committeeman Shawn Meehan; Storey County Clerk Jim Hindle; and Eileen Rice, a Republican from the Lake Tahoe area. (McDonald and DeGraffenreid last year also appeared before a grand jury in Washington, D.C. investigating the January 6 insurrection.) All pleaded not guilty.
Defense attorneys argued that the case should have been filed in Carson City or Reno, where the alleged crimes occurred, rather than in Las Vegas, the bluest city in the state and where several of the defendants live.
Attorneys Monti Levy and Richard Wright, who represent McDonald and Rice, applauded the judge’s decision Friday, saying NBC News they are “confident” that Holthus’ decision will be upheld by the Nevada Supreme Court. The state can’t take the case to a grand jury in a different county now because the three-year statute of limitations expired in December, so do defense attorneys. he saidaccording to the Associated Press.
Nevada is one of several swing states where Republicans filed fake certificates declaring Trump the winner of the 2020 election rather than Joe Biden. Charges were also brought against fake voters in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin It is Arizona.
This article was originally published in MSNBC.com
