Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee issued a ruling on Thursday in favor of separating the trials of 17 defendants, including former President Donald Trump, from two other defendants facing charges related to alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
The trial for the two defendants, lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, is set to commence on October 23. However, McAfee denied their request to have separate trials. He justified his decision as a “procedural and logistical inevitability.”
McAfee explained, “Beginning with the logistical concerns, the Fulton County Courthouse simply contains no courtroom adequately large enough to hold all 19 defendants, their multiple attorneys and support staff, the sheriff’s deputies, court personnel, and the State’s prosecutorial team.” He further noted that relocating to a larger venue would raise security concerns that couldn’t be quickly addressed.