LANSING (WWJ) -- The case has been dismissed for a group of 15 Michigan Republicans who were charged with forgery and uttering and publishing connected to the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Among those charged were Shelby Township clerk Stan Grot, former Michigan Republican Party Co-chair Meshawn Maddock and former Republican National Committee member Kathy Berden.
The group signed a document claiming they were presidential electors, which they in fact were not.
Advisers to President Donald Trump used the document in an attempt to overturn President Joe Biden's victory.
District Court Judge Judge Kristen Simmons announced Tuesday that she decided the evidence was not strong enough to move forward to trial, and the case was dismissed.
Basically, Simmons said, those who signed the document were misled, and there was no intent to do anything illegal.
"In this courtroom, we don't really care (about) your race, color, creed, national origin, religious beliefs or your political beliefs — but we do care about the law, and we believe that it should be applied to protect every individual equally," Simmons said.
"I believe that they were executing their constitutional right to seek redress," the judge continued, "And that's based on the statements of all of the people's witnesses. And so for those reasons, these cases will not be bound over the Circuit Court. Each case will be dismissed."
One of the electors, James Renner, was an alleged conspirator but became a key witness for prosecutors to build their case against the other 15.
In announcing the charges back in 2023, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said the group met covertly in the basement of the Michigan Republican party headquarters on Dec. 14 of that year, and signed their names multiple certificates stating they were the "duly elected and qualified electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America for the State of Michigan."
The false documents were then transmitted to the U.S. Senate and national archives, in what Nessel said was an effort to divert to the candidates of their choosing — including Donald Trump — instead of the candidates who were actually elected in Michigan in 2020.
Judge Simmons' ruling on Tuesday jives with claims by defense attorneys who said their clients were misled by Trump's lawyers, and didn't know what it was they were signing.
Speaking to reporters later Tuesday, Nessel made clear that she disagrees with the judges ruling.
She said the 16 people met with the intent to sign documents they knew made false claims, including that they were "the duly elected and qualified electors for the state of Michigan," and that Trump had won Michigan's popular vote.
"Well, they knew that the state board of canvassers had certified the election for Joe Biden. They knew that no recount was ever requested by the Trump campaign. They knew that they had lost every court case that had been filed in Michigan and across the country contesting the election," Nessel said.
"They knew that the legislature, specifically then Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield and then Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirke had refused to convene in an attempt to change the election results. They were very clear about that."
Nessel said the group met in that basement — rather than in the Michigan Senate, where the electors have to meet to vote under law — where they were made to hand over their cell phones and where they took "an oath of secrecy."
Nessel said the group formally replaced the two Trump electors who did not appear, including former Secretary of State Terry Lynn Land, who knew this to be an illegal proceeding and so did not show up.
"They signed a document that specifically stated that they were actually in the Michigan Senate and that the time was 2:20 p.m., which they had to, of course, known to be untrue," Nessel said.
"These documents we know were then transmitted to the National archivist, as well as to the United States Senate with the intent that the false slate be substituted for the legitimate Biden slate. And that had Vice President Pence selected this slate, Michigan's 16 electors would have wrongfully and fraudulently gone to Donald Trump instead of Joe Biden, who won Michigan by over 154,000 votes."
As to the claim of just not knowing what they were doing, Nessel said some of these people had been actual electors in the 2016 election and had to have known that this was not the proper procedure.
And at times, Nessel said evidence case showed that they admitted that.
"You had many other statements that were made during the course of this conspiracy that should have been enough to show exactly that these individuals knew what they were doing and had the intent that was required to show that they had committed multiple different crimes," she said.
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