A Georgia Superior Court judge Monday issued an order directing the release of three portions of a Georgia special purpose grand jury’s report regarding alleged 2020 general election interference on February 16.
The three parts of the report that will be released this Thursday are the introduction, conclusion and the section that details the grand jury’s concerns that some of the witnesses may have lied under oath. The latter part’s release is approved because the grand jury did not indicate anyone by name.
In the opinion, Judge Robert McBurney explained that, because this was a grand jury investigation, only Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis brought forth witnesses and evidence. Willis’s evidence, alone, resulted in the conclusions in the grand jury report, which determines whom the jury recommended be indicted. Because potential defendants were not able to present evidence, due process concerns were violated. As a result, McBurney found it best to leave the indictment recommendations only available to Willis. Specifically, McBurney stressed that if people were indicted who did not testify as witnesses, they did not have the procedural due process right to be heard.
McBurney also ordered the District Attorney’s Office provide frequent updates so the court can decide if more of the report can be released to the public. In January, a Georgia judge dissolved the special purpose grand jury after it completed its report after almost eight months.