XPost: alt.freespeech, alt.politics.trump, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: democrat-insurrection@mail.house.gov   
      
   https://azmirror.com/2024/08/27/arizona-fake-electors-use-anti-slapp-   
   defense-claim-first-amendment-privilege/   
      
   The Republicans indicted on fraud and conspiracy counts now say they were   
   prosecuted for merely exercising their First Amendment rights to assemble   
   and petition the government   
      
   PHOENIX (CN) — Donald Trump allies including Rudy Giuliani and Arizona   
   Republican leaders argued Monday that an indictment accusing them of   
   conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election should be dismissed   
   under Arizona’s newly amended anti-SLAPP statute, barring prosecutions   
   intended to inhibit free exercise of First Amendment rights.   
      
   Fourteen of the 16 remaining defendants in Arizona’s “fake electors” case   
   told a Maricopa County judge that the signing and certification of a   
   document assigning Arizona’s 11 electoral votes to Donald Trump rather   
   than President Joe Biden in 2020 was an expression of the defendants’   
   First Amendment freedoms to petition the government.   
      
   “There’s a difference between a group of people committing fraud and a   
   group of people expressing an unpopular political belief,” Michael   
   Columbo, attorney for Republican state Senator Jake Hoffman, told Maricopa   
   Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen Monday afternoon.   
      
   In 2022, the state Legislature amended Arizona’s anti-strategic laws   
   against public participation statute — or anti-SLAPP, a concept typically   
   reserved as a response to civil actions seeking to silence free speech —   
   to include criminal prosecutions.   
      
   Now, those implicated in an apparent conspiracy to overturn the   
   presidential election by signing false documents and pressuring Congress   
   and then-Vice President Mike Pence to accept the results over the duly   
   certified Democratic electors are attempting to use it to dismiss the nine   
   counts of conspiracy, forgery and fraud they each face.   
      
   In arguing other motions to dismiss, the defendants told the judge that   
   none of the independent acts listed in their indictment — like filing   
   action in the Supreme Court to challenge the electoral outcome, or writing   
   to Congress or the vice president to urge them to declare Trump the winner   
   or remand the decision to the state legislature — is a crime of its own   
   nature, and the case should therefore be dismissed.   
      
   But prosecutors argued that the defendants’ actions must be taken in a   
   broader context.   
      
   “It’s not just taking a concern to court,” prosecutor Krista Wood said.   
   “It is part of a larger scheme to overturn the election.”   
      
   But Columbo and other defense attorneys countered that the state has   
   provided no evidence that there was an agreement between the electors and   
   other accused conspirators to violate the law, nor is there any evidence   
   of what the electors were told at all.   
      
   State prosecutor Nick Klingerman said the statute, amended two years after   
   the actions in question, may now constitute an ex-post-facto law —   
   unconstitutionally retroactively adjusting the original standards — or may   
   otherwise violate the federal rules of criminal procedure.   
      
   To satisfy an anti-SLAPP motion, the defendants must independently   
   convince the judge that the legal action involved a First Amendment right   
   and that the action was intended to quash that right. Only if the defense   
   meets that burden will the state be asked to prove why the action is based   
   on law and not retaliation.   
      
   Earlier in the proceeding, defense attorneys argued in a separate motion   
   that the indictment should be dismissed because the state hasn’t produced   
   any evidence that the electors submitted the certification with the intent   
   to upend the election.   
      
   Dennis Wilenchik, representing Republican elector and former U.S. Senate   
   candidate James Lamon, said his client intended his vote and signature as   
   a contingency plan in the event that a court would reverse the election   
   results in Donald Trump’s favor.   
      
   “The context was completely ignored by the state,” Wilenchik said. “You   
   cannot take this in a vacuum.”   
      
   Willenchik said it was clear to every elector and the rest of the   
   defendants that the votes were intended to be submitted only as a   
   contingency plan, and that it was never intended to deceive anyone.   
      
   “Do you really think now-Governor Hobbs was fooled by this alternate   
   slate?” he asked Cohen. “I don’t think so.”   
      
   Klingerman countered that nowhere on the document signed by Lamon did it   
   say that it was contingent on anything, and public statements made by   
   other electors, including those Lamon is said to have relied on for   
   information, imply that the intent was always to certify Trump as the   
   winner, regardless of any pending litigation.   
      
   Two defendants have already dropped out of the case, which is expected to   
   head to trial no earlier than January 2026 and span at least eight weeks   
   with some 80 witnesses.   
      
   Trump attorney Jenna Ellis agreed to cooperate with the prosecution on   
   Aug. 5 in exchange for the state dropping the counts against her. Lorraine   
   Pellegrino, Republican elector and former secretary for the Arizona Trump   
   Electors, pleaded guilty the following day and received three years   
   probation.   
      
   The defense is scheduled to conclude its arguments Tuesday. If Cohen finds   
   they’ve met their burden, he will hold an evidentiary hearing in November   
   for the state to rebut.   
      
   This article was first published by Courthouse News Service and is   
   republished under their terms of use.   
      
      
   --   
   We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that   
   stupid people won't be offended.   
      
   Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem.  It has none.   
      
   No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.   
   Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.   
      
   Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden   
   fiasco, President Trump.   
      
   Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the   
   The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood   
   queer liberal democrat donors.   
      
   President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed   
   dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)