In a new ruling, an Arizona appellate court declined to consider Attorney General Kris Mayes’ appeal asking it to overturn a lower court’s decision to send the so-called fake elector case back to the grand jury.
In May, a Maricopa County judge sent the case back to the grand jury after finding prosecutors should have provided more information to the grand jury that indicted the defendants, who are accused of trying to undermine former President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory in Arizona.
Former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward, state Sen. Jake Hoffman, Turning Point Action’s Tyler Bowyer, Rudy Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows are among the defendants.
Prosecutors with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office claimed the defendants knowingly made false claims when they signed a document claiming President Donald Trump won Arizona’s electoral votes and sent it to Washington, D.C.
Judge Sam Myers ruled the grand jury should have been given the text of the Electoral Count Act.
In court, defense attorneys argued that legislation outlined a legal pathway for the defendants to sign the document as a “contingency” in the event legal challenges contesting the results of the 2020 election were successful.
“Because the State failed to provide the ECA to the grand jury, the Court finds that the defendants were denied a substantial procedural right as guaranteed by Arizona law,” Myers wrote.
The decision would effectively send the case back to square one, requiring prosecutors to either obtain a new indictment, directly file new charges against the defendants or drop the case.
The Appeals Court’s decision comes weeks after a Michigan judge dismissed charges against a slate of “fake electors” in that state who allegedly engaged in a similar scheme.
A spokesman for the attorney general declined to comment on whether Mayes will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.
