District Court Judge Kristen D. Simmons has dismissed the criminal charges against 15 Republicans charged with falsely attempting to certify President Donald Trump as the winner of the 2020 election. It is a major loss for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) (shown left), who garnered public support in trying to prosecute the Michigan electors.
Simmons was appointed by Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2019, and concluded: “I believe they were executing their constitutional right to seek redress.” She found no evidence of intent to commit fraud, and held that the Republicans “seriously believed” there were issues with the 2020 presidential election.
In early November 2020, polls indicated that a significant percentage of the population questioned the election’s outcome and the integrity of the voting process.
Michigan Attorney General Nessel employed a scorched-earth approach to those questioning the election. Viewed as arguably the most partisan Attorney General in the state’s history, Nessel is often compared to New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In this case, she charged each defendant with eight charges of forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery. The most serious charges carried a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
At a news briefing after the judge’s decision, Nessel strongly suggested that Simmons was merely cowering in fear of retaliation in reaching her decision. She referred to judges’ “fear of retaliation and the ongoing intimidation of threats.”
When pressed on the extraordinary claim of intimidation by the press, Nessel seemed to double down, stating that “it’s likely that in some circumstances, there are judges out there that think about the threats they’ve received.”
It is enormously insulting to this judge and, ironically, engages in the same type of attacks for which Democrats have criticized Trump.
Nessel has a history of public diatribes and political attacks on opponents, as well as major losses in some headline-grabbing cases.
This prosecution has taken two years. Nessel said that she is debating her next move.