ATLANTA — Scott Hall, one of the 18 defendants charged along with former President Donald Trump for allegedly interfering with the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, pleaded guilty Friday.

Hall is the first defendant to enter a plea in the case.

 

Under the terms of an agreement with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' office, Hall pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges and will be sentenced to five years' probation, if he abides by the terms of the deal. He also agreed to testify in related court hearings and trials stemming from the sprawling 41-count indictment that was unsealed in August.

“Do you understand that conditions of your probation in this sentence is that you testify truthfully at any further court proceedings to include trials of any co-defendants that is listed on the original indictment in which you were charged,” the DA's office asked Hall in a Friday afternoon hearing before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee.

“Yes, ma’am,” he responded.

Hall pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of an election.

Hall, 59, is a bail bondsman who was hit with charges relating to a voting system breach in Georgia’s Coffee County in early 2021. He was also the first of the 19 defendants charged in the case to surrender last month.

 

FULL STORY

 

 

 

 

 

He’s a smart guy effectively just a slap on the wrist hopefully he’s a good little canary and sings a lovely tune of donnies doom!

The dominos are falling.

 

Every day, it gets a little worse for Trump, kind of like Chinese water torture, a drip at a time.

 

2 hours ago, Tug said:

He’s a smart guy effectively just a slap on the wrist hopefully he’s a good little canary and sings a lovely tune of donnies doom!

One looming question in the case is how high into the Trump campaign’s hierarchy Hall’s reach extended — and whether the former president or Rudy Giuliani, another co-defendant who led efforts to prove that election fraud had tainted the race, ever interacted with him

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/09/29/judge-denies-jeffrey-clark-request-move-his-case-federal-court/

 

https://archive.li/9pzD0

Edited September 30, 20232 yr by jerrymahoney

1 hour ago, jerrymahoney said:

One looming question in the case is how high into the Trump campaign’s hierarchy Hall’s reach extended — and whether the former president or Rudy Giuliani, another co-defendant who led efforts to prove that election fraud had tainted the race, ever interacted with him

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/09/29/judge-denies-jeffrey-clark-request-move-his-case-federal-court/

 

https://archive.li/9pzD0

That is of course a question.

 

But once the dominoes start to topple they progress along up the line.

1 hour ago, jerrymahoney said:

One looming question in the case is how high into the Trump campaign’s hierarchy Hall’s reach extended — and whether the former president or Rudy Giuliani, another co-defendant who led efforts to prove that election fraud had tainted the race, ever interacted with him

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/09/29/judge-denies-jeffrey-clark-request-move-his-case-federal-court/

 

https://archive.li/9pzD0

If he had nothing valuable to offer he would not have been offered a plea deal.

2 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

If he had nothing valuable to offer he would not have been offered a plea deal.

It says in the full article that what he mainly would have to offer would testimony against Ms. Powell.

4 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

It says in the full article that what he mainly would have to offer would testimony against Ms. Powell.

How close to Trump was Powell do you think? Plea deals will only be offered if the evidence is substantive and likely to result in a conviction for the target.

 

Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro to be offered plea deal in Georgia case

 

https://www.rawstory.com/sidney-powell-kenneth-chesebro/

Edited September 30, 20232 yr by ozimoron

4 hours ago, Social Media said:

Hall, 59, is a bail bondsman

Presumably, given his "profession," he knew enough to know that he didn't want to end up getting sent to prison.... where he could potentially socialize with some of his past clients.

 

 

19 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

How close to Trump was Powell do you think? Plea deals will only be offered if the evidence is substantive and likely to result in a conviction for the target.

 

Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro to be offered plea deal in Georgia case

 

https://www.rawstory.com/sidney-powell-kenneth-chesebro/

From that Raw Story article:

 

It's not clear whether Chesebro or Powell will be asked to cooperate with investigators as part of their plea agreement, which prosecutors could be offering to avoid showing some evidence in the case ahead of trials for the other defendants.

 

-- or no spill-a da beans.

2 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

From that Raw Story article:

 

It's not clear whether Chesebro or Powell will be asked to cooperate with investigators as part of their plea agreement, which prosecutors could be offering to avoid showing some evidence in the case ahead of trials for the other defendants.

 

-- or no spill-a da beans.

Not clear whether a plea deal requires cooperation with prosecutors? There's no other reason for a prosecutor to ever offer a plea deal. It's always explicitly stated as a requirement. Look at Hall's agreement.

18 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

It says in the full article that what he mainly would have to offer would testimony against Ms. Powell.

 

17 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

How close to Trump was Powell do you think? Plea deals will only be offered if the evidence is substantive and likely to result in a conviction for the target.

 

Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro to be offered plea deal in Georgia case

 

https://www.rawstory.com/sidney-powell-kenneth-chesebro/

There's a good account of the whole story here:

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what-the-heck-happened-in-coffee-county-georgia

Powell is clearly involved

"According to a combination of court filings, depositions in subsequent litigation, and the indictment filed Monday evening in Fulton County, Georgia, the forensics team—a group of employees of an Atlanta-based firm called SullivanStrickler—has driven into the rural south Georgia town of Douglas at the behest of Sidney Powell, a lawyer working with then-President Donald Trump’s legal team."

 

Then the question is: will Powell accept to be a fuse or will she incriminate someone further up?

11 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

Not clear whether a plea deal requires cooperation with prosecutors? There's no other reason for a prosecutor to ever offer a plea deal. It's always explicitly stated as a requirement. Look at Hall's agreement.

At least in this case, the Judge has made it clear to the Prosecution that if at all possible he wants the DA to whittle down the case due the sheer logistics of it all.

 

“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. Relocating to another larger venue raises security concerns that cannot be rapidly addressed,” the judge wrote.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/14/judge-delays-trial-for-trump-others-in-georgia-2020-election-prosecution-00115903

Edited September 30, 20232 yr by jerrymahoney

12 minutes ago, candide said:

Then the question is: will Powell accept to be a fuse or will she incriminate someone further up?

She is already likely un-indicted co-conspirator #3 in the WASHDC federal case.

5 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

At least in this case, the Judge has made it clear to the Prosecution that if at all possible he wants the DA to whittle down the case due the sheer logistics of it all.

 

“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. Relocating to another larger venue raises security concerns that cannot be rapidly addressed,” the judge wrote.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/14/judge-delays-trial-for-trump-others-in-georgia-2020-election-prosecution-00115903

Irrelevant to the question of whether a plea deal requires cooperation in prosecution.

Just now, jerrymahoney said:

She is already likely un-indicted co-conspirator #3 in the WASHDC federal case.

Yes, possibly unindicted as a result of making a plea deal.

15 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

Not clear whether a plea deal requires cooperation with prosecutors? There's no other reason for a prosecutor to ever offer a plea deal. It's always explicitly stated as a requirement. Look at Hall's agreement.

That was a quote from Raw Story as to one reason a plea deal was offered. It doesn't say their was no agreement to turn state's evidence.

1 minute ago, ozimoron said:

Yes, possibly unindicted as a result of making a plea deal.

Possibly.

1 hour ago, jerrymahoney said:

She is already likely un-indicted co-conspirator #3 in the WASHDC federal case.

Does being un-indicted mean you cannot be indicted later (under threat of being indicted)?

Edited September 30, 20232 yr by candide

Bad news for Trump. The plea deal especially, an open invitation to perjure oneself on the witness stand.

Strangely, the "Trump is innocent" crowd seems to have disappeared.

6 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

Strangely, the "Trump is innocent" crowd seems to have disappeared.

They can scream: hoax, with hunt so many times but at a certain stage, one looks like a complete idiot.

2 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

They can scream: hoax, with hunt so many times but at a certain stage, one looks like a complete idiot.

That stage was passed long ago, yet they haven't stopped idolizing Trump.

After the 2020 election I stopped paying attention to the STS farce, though I continued to read the news. 

I recall the press caught Pillow Guy (who I hadn't heard of before) running around the WH just a little before Xmas with a list of possible strategies that included armed insurrection (or words to that effect).  Then the day after Xmas the doors of the clown car opened and we met Sidney, Overstock guy, and a few others, jumping on the Crazytown Express.  My opinion at that time, which I still hold to, is that DT dangled a pile of money in front of the clowns for whoever gets the election results returned.  What followed could be seen as a re-make of "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World," where no one finds the double-ya.

My take is this guy in Georgia is smart enough to see he has nothing to gain by remaining true-orange, and is already tinged beyond compare. 

Yes, Georgia governor Kemp and Raffensperger  are anti-MAGA, but I still think they are slime.  I'm putting my money on the Smith-DC case: the Georgia and MAL cases could very well drag out into the 2030s.  There is a lot more coming from Smith, but those charges may be different cases that will come after the 1/6 case, like the grifts of collecting $$$ from MAGA fans and where exactly those dollars end up. 

 

12 hours ago, candide said:

Does being un-indicted mean you cannot be indicted later (under threat of being indicted)?

No. It does not put one in the clear.

Bernie Kerik's lawyer is trying to engineer an immunity deal for Bernie, where he would testify against Sidney Powell. I guess Bernie is worried he might be indicted later, and he really doesn't want to go to jail.

On 9/30/2023 at 8:13 PM, jerrymahoney said:

At least in this case, the Judge has made it clear to the Prosecution that if at all possible he wants the DA to whittle down the case due the sheer logistics of it all.

 

“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. Relocating to another larger venue raises security concerns that cannot be rapidly addressed,” the judge wrote.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/14/judge-delays-trial-for-trump-others-in-georgia-2020-election-prosecution-00115903

5555555555555

Looks like the prosecutors shot themselves in the foot by not considering if it was actually possible to try all of them at the same time.

No surprises there then.

On 10/1/2023 at 12:46 AM, Danderman123 said:

Strangely, the "Trump is innocent" crowd seems to have disappeared.

Don't know to whom you are referring.

As for myself I doubt I ever said he was innocent per se. Not having been in any of the rooms, I don't know if he is or is not guilty of some crime.

What I do believe though, is that most of the charges are politically motivated, and if he was not standing for POTUS would never have been brought.

 

 

 

9 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Don't know to whom you are referring.

As for myself I doubt I ever said he was innocent per se. Not having been in any of the rooms, I don't know if he is or is not guilty of some crime.

What I do believe though, is that most of the charges are politically motivated, and if he was not standing for POTUS would never have been brought.

 

 

 

Politically motivated? Do you think that in any other western country, a President or PM putting pressure on officials to find 11,780 votes (on top of his aides and lawyers organizing fake electors lists and computer system breach) would not have been indicted (on top of having been fired from his own party)?

A Trial in Trump’s Georgia Elections Case Will Start Soon — Without Trump

Oct. 4, 2023

 

The first trial may also provide clues as to how the former president will fare when his turn before a jury comes. And Mr. Trump’s Atlanta lawyer, Steven H. Sadow, will be watching closely.

 

(un-affiliated attorney) Mr. Adams said that in cases with many defendants and staggered trials, defense lawyers like him have the advantage of getting a preview, in the first trial, of the prosecution’s strategies.

 

“I’m sitting in the back of the courtroom, I can see what’s presented, I can see what the witnesses have said, I can see what their arguments are,” he said. “I get to tailor my defense and my arguments for when we strike up trial No. 2.”

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/us/trump-wont-be-on-trial-in-georgia-case-this-fall-but-his-presence-will-be-felt.html

 

https://archive.ph/wib1i