The evidence against attorney Sidney Powell, one of 19 defendants charged in the Fulton County election interference racketeering indictment, is so weak she could be tried in three days at most and be acquitted by the trial judge before her case even goes to the jury, a court filing by Powell’s lawyer said Wednesday.
The motion said, “Assuming the prosecution does not realize its error in indicting her and agree to dismiss this wrongful prosecution before trial immediately,” if Powell goes to trial she should receive a “judgment of acquittal when the state rests.” In making such judgments, which are rare, trial judges find that no reasonable juror could find beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant is guilty based on the evidence presented by the state.
The bold claim was made by Powell’s Atlanta lawyer, Brian Rafferty, who also moved to sever her trial from the other 18 defendants, including former President Donald Trump, lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
“Contrary to widely publicized false statements in the media, Sidney Powell did not represent President Trump or the Trump campaign,” the motion said. “She had no engagement agreement with either.”
The Fulton District Attorney’s Office is expected to strongly disagree with Powell’s motion and its account of what did and did not happen.
Powell, who has already filed a speedy trial demand, stands indicted on charges of racketeering, conspiring to commit computer invasion of privacy, conspiring to defraud the state, conspiring to commit computer trespass, conspiring to commit computer theft and conspiring to commit election fraud.
Many of the charges relate to her allegedly hiring the Atlanta firm SullivanStrickler to obtain breached election data from Coffee County in South Georgia. She is also accused of tasking people to identify Georgia residents who could serve as plaintiffs in suits contesting the state’s election results.
Rafferty’s motion notes that Powell’s name is mentioned just 14 times throughout the 98-page indictment.
“Ms. Powell did not agree with any of her purported co-conspirators to do anything improper, and many of her purported co-conspirators publicly shunned and disparaged Ms. Powell beginning in November 2020,” the motion said. “Others she does not know or had no contact with at all.”
As for the Coffee County charges, there was no contract for SullivanStrickler to conduct forensic imaging of the county’s voting system and Powell signed no such contract, the motion said. She also “did not plan or organize the Coffee County trip,” did not request SullivanStrickler to undertake the project and the county’s election board “gave permission for the forensic inspection and nothing was stolen.”
Powell can receive a fair trial only if she is tried alone, Rafferty wrote. He asked Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to hold an evidentiary hearing on the motion to sever her trial and be tried separately from all the other co-defendants.
