OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
CNN’s top legal expert asserted this week that there is a strong likelihood that the criminal charges against former President Donald Trump in Georgia over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results may collapse completely following the postponement of the case.
Elie Honig, CNN’s Senior Legal Analyst and former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, made his prediction after a Georgia appellate court halted the case this week.
“It’s over. Let’s be realistic. It’s not happening before the 2024 election. It’s not happening in 2024. It’s maybe not happening at all,” Honig told the network during a segment on Thursday. “Now, look, the appeals court, we can never predict what they’re going to do. But there’s some things we know for sure. Number one, they didn’t have to take this case, the appeal, and they chose to. The other thing is they didn’t have to pause the district court.”
“In fact, the trial court judge, when he issued his ruling, allowing Donald Trump, and the others, to ask the appeals court to take the case, the trial court judge specified, while you all are doing that, I am going to continue holding proceedings in this trial court,” he continued. “And now, today, just a couple hours ago, the appeals court said no, no, no, pause that, too. So, that tells me that they are taking this appeal very seriously. And if Trump and the defendants prevail in this appeal, this case is essentially toast.”
Honig went on to say that if the case is ultimately dismissed, former Trump officials who pleaded guilty early on in the proceedings will very likely want to walk back those pleas.
“There is a separate issue that Trump and the other defendants are going to raise that I think is a bigger deal, which is Fani Willis’ inappropriate comments about the case outside of court,” he said. “Judge McAfee found those comments to be, quote, ‘legally improper,’ and then he did nothing about it. And so, the defense is going to argue to the Court of Appeals, if the prosecutor makes, quote, ‘legally improper’ statements that impair the constitutional rights of the defendant, there needs to be a remedy for that.”
WATCH:
The Georgia Court of Appeals officially accepted the case on Monday, announcing Oct. 4th as the preliminary date set for oral arguments.
Judges Todd Markle, Trenton Brown, and Benjamin Land were assigned by a computer-generated random selection process to hear what is expected to be the most high-profile appeal in the court’s history.
As noted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the three judges who will hear the case all served as trial judges before being appointed to the appellate court:
–Markle, who was appointed to the court by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2018, is a former Fulton County Superior Court judge.
–Land, who was appointed to the bench two years ago by Gov. Brian Kemp, is a former Superior Court judge for the six-county Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit in West Georgia.
–Brown, appointed by Deal in 2018, served as a Superior Court judge for the eight-county Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit in central Georgia.
Ashleigh Merchant, a Marietta attorney, has announced that she will ask the court to hear oral arguments on behalf of Mike Roman, one of Trump’s 14 remaining co-defendants in the racketeering case. Merchant filed in January as the first defense lawyer to move for Willis’ disqualification in the case.
It’s not likely that the three-judge appellate panel will issue a verdict before the November presidential election.
The Georgia Constitution requires a decision to be made within two terms of court. Thus, the justices would have to decide by mid-March 2025. Though most cases are decided about eight and a half months after they are first docketed, the judges may agree to expedite the process.