Georgia judge rejects Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro's request to dismiss guilty plea in RICO case

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee on Friday denied former Donald Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro's request to dismiss his guilty plea in the state’s wide-ranging election interference case.

Chesebro was one of the 18 co-defendants that was charged last year on 13 felony charges related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in Georgia. He pleaded guilty to one felony of conspiracy to commit filing false documents last October, and the other charges were dropped.

The former attorney last week asked the judge to dismiss the guilty plea because McAfee struck several charges from the remaining cases, including the charge that Chesebro pleaded guilty to. But McAfee on Friday ruled the request was defective in multiple ways.

“The Defendant has already submitted a plea in response to this indictment — one of guilt,” the judge wrote. “This Court lacks jurisdiction to grant the requested relief. The motion is dismissed.”

McAfee countered several of Chesebro's arguments, including that Chesebro did not make the same pretrial argument that led to the charge dismissal in other cases, according to The Hill.

Chesebro also does not qualify under a “motion in arrest of judgment,” because he was sentenced under Georgia’s First Offender Act which “defers further proceedings while the charge remains pending for the duration of the sentence." 

“No final judgment occurs,” McAfee wrote. “Therefore there can be no motion in arrest of judgment here.”

Chesebro's attorney Manny Arora said he does not blame the judge for not siding with them based on the arguments they outlined, but did not give up hope of having the charge dismissed. Arora said the next step will be to file a habeas corpus petition.

“Always remember, Count 15 has been invalidated,” Arora said. “So it’s just what is the right legal vehicle to get there.”

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.