ATLANTA — The lone Georgia elected official indicted as part of the massive election interference case wants a judge to dismiss the charges against him.
Shawn Still is currently the state senator from North Fulton and Forsyth counties. Four years ago, he was the state finance chair for the Georgia Republican Party and a false elector.
He didn’t show up for Wednesday’s hearing, but his attorneys did and asked the judge to drop the charges.
Still was nowhere to be seen but his attorney argued that he should not face criminal charges for his role in the meeting of the Republican false electors nearly four years ago.
“I must say, I’ve never seen a fraud perpetrated wide open, in front of the public, with a court reporter present, with a videographer present, the media present in broad daylight in front of 15 other people,” Still’s attorney Tom Bever argued.
But that’s exactly what Fulton County prosecutors say happened at the meeting.
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Channel 2′s Richard Elliot was inside that room when the GOP false electors, led by then Georgia GOP Chair David Shafer, cast their ballots and then signed their names to a document sent to elections officials.
Prosecutors say that was a crime.
But still’s attorney insists their client was told they needed to do all this in case Georgia flipped for former President Donald Trump.
“The bottom line was, if they did not vote their ballots and the state flipped, that the votes from Georgia would not be counted,” Beaver said.
But the state argued that the meeting was actually part of a much larger conspiracy to overturn the popular vote in Georgia and to get the Republican-controlled legislature to name Trump the winner.
Prosecutor Will Wooten told Elliot that it didn’t matter if Still or anyone didn’t realize what they were doing was illegal.
“There is a presumption that every person, including Shawn Still, knows what the law is, and not knowing what you did was illegal is not a defense to what you did,” Wooten said.
The judge did not decide anything on Wednesday. That decision could come sometime next month.
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