Current:Home > ContactSidney Powell pleads guilty in case over efforts to overturn Trump’s Georgia loss and gets probation -ProfitPioneers Hub
Sidney Powell pleads guilty in case over efforts to overturn Trump’s Georgia loss and gets probation
View
Date:2025-04-24 20:18:09
ATLANTA (AP) — Lawyer Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to reduced charges Thursday over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia, becoming the second defendant in the sprawling case to reach a deal with prosecutors.
Powell, who was charged alongside Trump and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law, entered the plea just a day before jury selection was set to start in her trial. She pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors related to intentionally interfering with the performance of election duties.
As part of the deal, she will serve six years of probation, will be fined $6,000 and will have to write an apology letter to Georgia and its residents. She also agreed to testify truthfully against her co-defendants at future trials.
Related coverage
Trump and 18 allies charged in Georgia election meddling as former president faces 4th criminal case
How a law associated with mobsters is central to charges against Trump
Georgia judge rules that Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro can be tried together starting Oct. 23
Powell, 68, was initially charged with racketeering and six other counts as part of a wide-ranging scheme to keep the Republican president in power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. Prosecutors say she also participated in an unauthorized breach of elections equipment in a rural Georgia county elections office.
The acceptance of a plea deal is a remarkable about-face for a lawyer who, perhaps more than anyone else, strenuously pushed baseless conspiracy theories about a stolen election in the face of extensive evidence to the contrary. If prosecutors compel her to testify, she could provide insight on a news conference she participated in on behalf of Trump and his campaign shortly after the election and on a White House meeting she attended in mid-December of that year during which strategies and theories to influence the outcome of the election were discussed.
Powell was scheduled to go on trial on Monday with lawyer Kenneth Chesebro after each filed a demand for a speedy trial. Jury selection was set to start Friday. The development means that Chesebro will go on trial by himself, though prosecutors said earlier that they also planned to look into the possibility of offering him a plea deal.
Barry Coburn, a Washington-based lawyer for Powell, declined to comment on Thursday.
A lower-profile defendant in the case, bail bondsman Scott Graham Hall, last month pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges. He was sentenced to five years of probation and agreed to testify in further proceedings.
Prosecutors allege that Powell conspired with Hall and others to access election equipment without authorization and hired computer forensics firm SullivanStrickler to send a team to Coffee County, in south Georgia, to copy software and data from voting machines and computers there. The indictment says a person who is not named sent an email to a top SullivanStrickler executive and instructed him to send all data copied from Dominion Voting Systems equipment in Coffee County to an unidentified lawyer associated with Powell and the Trump campaign.
veryGood! (8)
Related
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Oklahoma’s state primary runoff elections
- Biden promised to clean up heavily polluted communities. Here is how advocates say he did
- These Lululemon Finds Have Align Leggings for $59 Plus More Styles Under $60 That Have Reviewers Obsessed
- Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
- AP Week in Pictures: Global
- Maryland police officer convicted of tossing smoke bomb at police during Capitol riot
- Commanders trade former first-round WR Jahan Dotson to rival Eagles
- Billy Bean was an LGBTQ advocate and one of baseball's great heroes
- Walmart+ members get 25% off Burger King, free Whoppers in new partnership
Ranking
- Kourtney Kardashian Cradles 9-Month-Old Son Rocky in New Photo
- New Federal Report Details More of 2023’s Extreme Climate Conditions
- Atlantic City casino earnings declined by 1.3% in 2nd quarter of 2024
- Taylor Swift, her ex Taylor Lautner and an unlikely, eye-catching friendship
- Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
- Love Actually's Martine McCutcheon Reveals Husband Broke Up With Her After 18 Years Together
- Why Selena Gomez's Wizards Costar David Henrie Approves of Benny Blanco
- Is Beyoncé Performing at the DNC? Here's the Truth
Recommendation
Audit: California risked millions in homelessness funds due to poor anti-fraud protections
Love Actually's Martine McCutcheon Reveals Husband Broke Up With Her After 18 Years Together
Billions of crabs suddenly vanished, likely due to climate change, study says
A dreaded, tree-killing beetle has reached North Dakota
Louisiana high court temporarily removes Judge Eboni Johnson Rose from Baton Rouge bench amid probe
Average rate on a 30-year mortgage eases to 6.46%, the lowest level in 15 months
‘The answer is no': Pro-Palestinian delegates say their request for a speaker at DNC was shut down
Powerball winning numbers for August 21: Jackpot rises to $34 million after winner