Wave of plea deals 'illustrates' Fani Willis’ growing 'momentum' in Georgia election case

Former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results are the focus of two separate criminal prosecutions — one by special counsel Jack Smith for the U.S. Department of Justice, the other by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for the State of Georgia. And the indictments are far from identical.

Legal experts have typically described Smith's case as lean and mean, while using adjectives like "sweeping," "expansive" and "ambitious" to describe Willis'. Unlike Smith, Willis is using RICO laws to prosecute Trump and indicted 18 co-defendants — four of whom have flipped and made plea deals with the Fulton County DA's Office.

In a report published on October 25, journalists Richard Fausset and Danny Hakim stress that those deals show much "momentum" Willis' case has at this point.

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"The power of Georgia's racketeering statute in Ms. Willis' hands has become apparent over the last six days," the reporters explain. "Her office is riding a wave of momentum that started with a guilty plea last Thursday from Sidney K. Powell, the pro-Trump lawyer who had promised in November 2020 to 'release the kraken' by exposing election fraud, but never did. Then, in rapid succession, came two more guilty pleas — and promises to cooperate with the prosecution and testify — from other Trump-aligned lawyers, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis."

Fausset and Hakim add, "While Ms. Powell pleaded guilty only to misdemeanor charges, both Mr. Chesebro and Ms. Ellis accepted a felony charge as part of their plea agreements. A fourth defendant, a Georgia bail bondsman named Scott Hall, pleaded guilty last month to five misdemeanor charges."

These plea deals, according to Fausett and Hakim, "illustrate Ms. Willis' methodology," which involves "wielding her state's racketeering law to pressure smaller-fry defendants to roll over, take plea deals, and apply pressure to defendants higher up the pyramids of power."

Law professor Kay L. Levine, who teaches law at Atlanta's Emory University, told the Times, "This is how it works: People at the lower rungs are typically offered a good deal in order to help get the big fish at the top…. I think there was clearly a lot of thought that went into, 'What would it take to get these people who were part of the entourage — part of the, you know, the set of allies of the Trump loyalist team, to get them to cooperate?'"

READ MORE: 'Jaw-dropping testimony': Legal expert details 3 big takeaways from Sidney Powell's bombshell guilty plea

Read the New York Times full report at this link (subscription required).