![]() ![]() It's also uncertain whether an order removing one defendant's case would drag all the other defendants along to federal court as well, meaning the decision on Meadows could have implications for the entire case. "At the same time, conservatives particularly have a broad view of executive power." "The right of states as sovereign entities to prosecute crimes without federal courts intervening, that's something generally conservatives would agree with," Kreis says. Supreme Court on appeal, and how the conservative-leaning court would rule is not clear. Kreis says this debate could reach the U.S. The Hatch Act restricts federal officials from engaging in campaign activity in their official capacity, though Meadows denies that's what he was doing. "At the end of the day, if Mark Meadows was able to show he was acting entirely consistent with what the federal law authorized him to do, then he has a very strong case to suggest the Constitution's Supremacy Clause renders any prosecution by the state of Georgia null and void," Kreis says.įormer White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows faces two felony counts in the Georgia indictment.īut first, Judge Jones will need to weigh whether Meadows' activities - like offering campaign funding to a Georgia official to speed up a signature audit, sending an email referring to the coordination of fake electors, and facilitating Trump's phone call asking Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" votes - really were part of his official duties.įulton County prosecutors argue that those actions could not have been under the scope of Meadows' White House job. If Meadows is successful, one likely benefit to him would be a broader, more Republican-leaning jury pool, as jurors would come from 10 counties in northern Georgia, not just heavily Democratic Fulton County.Īnthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, says there's another potential benefit for Meadows. Taking the witness stand on Monday, Meadows claimed the activities outlined in the indictment fell under his official duties as White House chief of staff, meaning he has a right to remove his case to federal court. District Judge Steve Jones is weighing whether former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows can have his Georgia criminal case tried in federal, rather than state, court. Melvin testified in June that he had inappropriate sexual contact with that inmate as well as a half-dozen others, but his statements - made in a Fulton County court under a grant of immunity - have not led to criminal charges.Law Trump pleads not guilty to Georgia election interference charges Removal to federal court The only other teacher on the list is DaShawn Melvin, who was the GED instructor at Pulaski State Prison until he was fired in April after he was arrested on charges that he was trying to bring contraband into the prison for a gang-affiliated inmate. One teacher is listed as being arrested for sexual assault against a person in custody. Under Georgia law, a person with supervisory authority over another person can be charged with sexual assault even if there’s consent. Another sexual assault charge was against a sergeant at the Arrendale Transitional Center. The list also shows nine GDC employees were arrested for sexual assault, including four involving assaults of persons in custody at Lee Arrendale State Prison, Georgia’s largest facility for women. The fifth employee was accused of beating an inmate in a separate incident. Four are accused in a case where a handcuffed inmate at the Columbus prison was beaten. That includes the arrests of five Rutledge State Prison employees last September. Twenty-one arrests involved a charge of battery. ![]()
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