Cases delayed until April for second group of Michigan Republicans charged in fake elector plot

The second cohort of Michigan Republicans charged with submitting false electoral votes for former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election were scheduled to be in Lansing district court Tuesday morning, but the complexity and sheer volume of issues to be decided pushed their cases out for more than two months.

The Michigan Attorney General’s Office, which is heading the criminal prosecution of the 15 defendants, asserts that the group willfully signed several documents falsely claiming they were the state’s rightful electors in 2020, submitting false electoral votes to Washington, D.C. 

President Joe Biden won Michigan by more than 154,000 votes in 2020 and thus won all 16 of the state’s 16 electoral votes.

The first six of the 15 individuals — Michigan GOP National Committeewoman Kathleen Berden, Amy Facchinello, John Haggard, Mari-Ann Henry, Michele Lundgren and former Michigan GOP Co-chair Meshawn Maddock — began their hearings in Lansing’s 54A District Court in December, and are scheduled to resume on Feb. 11 and 12.

Previously, 16 individuals were charged, all with eight felonies apiece, some of which carried up to 14 years in prison. But one man, James Renner of Lansing, had his criminal charges dropped as a part of a cooperation agreement with the prosecution of the other members of the group. Another, Timothy King, has been referred for a competency exam.

On Tuesday, the cases of the remaining eight defendants — William (Hank) Choate, Clifford Frost, Stanley Grot, Mayra Rodriguez, Rose Rook, Marian Sheridan, Ken Thompson and Kent Vanderwood — came before Ingham County Judge Kristen Simmons, who quickly informed the attorneys and their clients (most of whom were appearing via Zoom) that the start of their preliminary exams were being delayed.

“Due to the complexity of the evidence that’s being presented, the volume of evidence, we have not gotten, I don’t even think, halfway through,” she said. “I have pending motions for evidence and all kinds of things that are lurking. It would be a nightmare for me to begin another set of exams with the same set of evidence at a different time. And so to keep things as clean as possible, I am going to proceed and complete the first six before beginning this six.”

Simmons also indicated that her courtroom was too small to accommodate seven defendants and attorneys, and a larger one would have to be arranged.

She then set new dates for the second group of defendants to April 11 and 12.

Sheridan’s attorney, John Freeman, then requested that his client’s exam not proceed until they received transcripts from the Feb. 11 and 12 hearings, saying that he could not effectively represent her without being able to study that testimony, Simmons quickly rejected that.

“I’m not going to hold this case open any longer, so that we can wait for transcripts,” she said. “If you want to know what’s going on in those other cases, you probably want to tune in, because we’re moving forward with these cases.”

Vanderwood’s attorney, Brian Lennon, then requested if they could hire their own stenographer to be in court those two days, to which Simmons suggested he file a motion, saying she didn’t see why she wouldn’t “reasonably consider” it.

Simmons also indicated that the AG’s office was planning to file a sequestration motion, which could either refer to an order preventing witnesses from being present in the courtroom unless they are testifying, or that a potential jury be isolated during a trial, if one is ordered. 

The Advance has asked the AG’s office for comment, but the request was not yet returned.

Testimony from the hearings in December included that from a member of the Michigan State Police talking about individuals not charged in the case trying to get into the capitol while the election was being certified and the state’s director of elections talking about how the election certification process works.

The Michigan Attorney General’s Office says the criminal charges, which include multiple counts of forgery stem from the group’s decision to meet at the Michigan Republican Party headquarters in Lansing on Dec. 14, 2020, and sign several documents claiming to be the state’s rightful electors, and submit the state’s electoral votes for Trump.

Here’s what we know about the charges against the 2020 Michigan fake electors

They were not the rightful electors.

The host of defense attorneys have made arguments throughout the case on behalf of their clients, including calling attention to comments made by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel at a virtual event in September where she called the defendants “brainwashed.”

“These are people who have been brainwashed,” Nessel said. “They legit believe that … somebody can’t even plead guilty if they wanted to because they can’t admit that what they did violated the law because they still think they’re right.”

Simmons ruled in October that there wasn’t enough evidence to dismiss the charges.