Attorney Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to six criminal charges in a Georgia case involving former President Donald Trump and his allies’ alleged attempts to interfere in the 2020 US presidential election. A Georgia judge previously agreed to sever Powell and attorney Kenneth Chesebro from Trump and the other 16 co-defendants back in September.
In exchange for her guilty plea, Powell was charged with six Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act charges; two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud, conspiracy to defraud the state, conspiracy to commit computer theft, conspiracy to commit computer trespass; and conspiracy to commit computer invasion of privacy. Because Powell was a first offender, she received six years of probation and ordered to pay a fine of $6,000, with an additional restitution $2,700 to be paid to the Georgia secretary of state. She is also required to testify against her co-defendants as part of her plea agreement.
A Georgia grand jury indicted Powell along with Trump and 17 other co-defendants in August. That indictment alleged that Powell entered into a contract with a forensic data firm to tamper with the voting system, Dominion Voting Systems, used in several states during the 2020 US presidential election. Powell allegedly directed people to tamper with electronic ballot machines and to remove some voer data from Dominion Voting Systems machines. In line with that allegation, the indictment also alleged that Powell caused some of her co-defendants to possess official ballots outside of official polling places. The indictment also contained allegations that Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, planned on appointing Powell as special counsel to investigate “voting fraud” in Georgia and elsewhere.
In September, a Georgia judge severed Powell and Chesebro from the remaining 17 co-defendants in the criminal case. The judge called his decision to sever the two “simply a procedural and logistical inevitability.” Powell and Chesebro’s trial was set to proceed to trial in a Georgia courtroom on October 23, but because of the plea, now Powell will not proceed to trial.
