Michigan Judge Dismisses Case Against 15 Accused False Electors for Trump

A Michigan judge on Sept. 9 threw out a case against 15 Republicans who were accused of falsely trying to certify President Donald Trump as the state’s winner during the 2020 election.

Ingham County District Court Judge Kristen D. Simmons said in a court hearing on Sept. 9 that the defendants will not face trial, according to a livestream of the court hearing. The judge also announced that she was dismissing the charges.

No written order from Simmons had been issued as of the morning of Sept. 9.

“These cases will not be bound over to the circuit court,” Simmons said in the hearing. “Each case will be dismissed.”

Simmons also said the charges against the 15 Republicans are part of a fraud case and said that one has to “prove intent” in such a case. The judge said she does not believe that “there’s evidence sufficient to prove intent” of fraud.

Before her decision, Simmons said that “[state prosecutors] would like the court to believe that these named defendants were savvy or sophisticated enough to understand fully the electoral process, which the court does disagree [with] because the document that was presented doesn’t even align with the level of sophistication that they want me to believe.”

Simmons noted that a main witness in the case said that “there was no intent to defraud … and that all of the proposed Republican electors that he encountered were trying to do what they believed was the right thing.”

All of the defendants pleaded not guilty in 2023 when the charges were brought against them by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Initially, there were 16 defendants, but one defendant’s charges were dropped after that defendant cooperated with the office, according to court documents.

Each member of the group, which included a few high-profile members of the Republican Party in Michigan, faced eight charges of forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery. The top felony charges carry a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Investigators said the group met at the Michigan GOP headquarters in December 2020 and signed a document stating that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified electors,” Nessel’s office said. Michigan electoral officials certified former President Joe Biden as the winner of the state in the 2020 election by about 155,000 votes.

Electors are part of the 538-member Electoral College that officially elects the president of the United States. In 48 states, electors vote for the candidate who won the popular vote. In Nebraska and Maine, elector votes are awarded based on congressional district and statewide results.

Prosecutors in Nevada, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Arizona have also filed criminal charges related to the alleged fake electors scheme. None of the cases has neared the trial stage, and some have been bogged down by procedural and appellate delays.

The alleged effort to secure fake electors was central to a federal indictment against Trump, brought by special counsel Jack Smith in Washington, which was abandoned before Trump took office for his second term.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled the name of Michigan’s Ingham County. The Epoch Times regrets the error.