Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in March quashed six counts in the indictment, including three against Trump, but he left in place other counts. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appealed that ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals, which on Friday upheld McAfee's ruling.
The six dismissed counts charged the defendants with soliciting public officers to violate their oaths. One count stems from a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on Jan. 2, 2021, in which Trump urged Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes.”
Another of the dismissed counts accused Trump of soliciting then-Georgia House Speaker David Ralston to violate his oath of office by calling a special session of the legislature to unlawfully appoint presidential electors.
McAfee said the counts did not allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of the violations. The Court of Appeals agreed, finding that “the indictment fails to include enough detail to sufficiently apprise the defendants of what they must be prepared to meet so that they can intelligently prepare their defenses.”
The Georgia Court of Appeals last month ruled that Willis and her office could not continue to prosecute the case because of an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship she had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she had hired to lead the case.
