Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford
Update: The six 2020 Trump electors denied charges of fraud and a March 11 trial was set, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Arraignment for the half-dozen 2020 Trump electors occurred Dec. 18 in the Eighth District Court in Las Vegas.
Three of the electors, Jim DeGraffenreid, Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice, are Douglas County residents. The other three are Michael McDonald, Jesse Law and Durward James Hindle III.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Aaron Ford conducted a press conference about the indictments.
Ford defended the time it took to bring the indictments,
He said that the prosecution was a lose-lose for his office, citing a line from the series “The Crown.”
“There is no justice in politics,” he said. “That’s an interesting phrase. Move quickly and be accused of rushing to judgment for political purposes. Take your time to secure sufficient facts and evidence to prove each and every element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt and be accused of delaying for political purposes. That’s why my Office ignores all that noise and focus on seeking justice."
Ford said that his office had been working on the case for at least a year before he testified for a bill that would have specifically outlawed illegitimate elector.
He said that it was frustrating that he could not discuss or correct misconceptions about the investigation that arose.
The Attorney General’s Office typically doesn’t confirm or deny questions about whether they are conducting an investigation.
“I was unable to discuss what our office was working on,” he said. “It is frustrating sometimes – both to the media and to us, because you can’t report as quickly as you would like, and we can’t correct erroneous facts that sometimes result in the vacuum of the lack of information. But it is the best approach to ensure our investigations and, eventually, our prosecutions, are not tainted."
All six have been charged with offering a false instrument for filing, a category C felony, and uttering a forged instrument, a category D felony, for offering a false instrument titled “Certificate of the Votes of the 2020 Electors from Nevada” to the President of the Senate; the Archivist of the United States; the Nevada Secretary of State; and the U. S. District Court for the District of Nevada.
The Clark County Grand Jury heard the case and issued the six indictments dated Dec. 5. The three-year statute of limitations on the accusations would have expired this week, according to news reports.
According to the indictment, the electors “did knowingly procure or offer a false or forged instrument to be filed, registered or recorded in a public office, which instrument, if genuine, might be filed, registered in a public space under any law of this state or of the United States.”
A Class C felony carries an up to five-year prison sentence. The forgery charge carries up to four years.
The Record-Courier heard from all three Douglas residents on Dec. 6 when the indictments were revealed. All said they would not have comment.