PHOENIX — After 13 hours of arguments over three days, a court hearing in the so-called "Fake Electors" case wrapped up Wednesday.
Soon, the decision over whether to dismiss the charges against at least a dozen defendants in Maricopa County will be in Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen's hands.
16 people are facing nine felonies each, including forgery, fraud and conspiracy, accused in an organized attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential race in Arizona.
Defense attorneys spent Monday and Tuesday in court arguing the charges are politically motivated, saying the alleged actions were political speech.
"The basis for the prosecution that was given to the grand jury was his political and protected activity and his speech," Stephen Binhak, defense attorney for Tyler Bowyer, said in court Tuesday.
However, Wednesday Arizona Attorney General Criminal Division Chief Nick Klingerman had an hour and a half to respond to defense attorneys' arguments, saying the case crossed the line from protected speech to fraud.
"This prosecution involves nothing more than enforcing the law against those who are alleged to have committed frauds, forgeries and conspiracies to change the outcome of a lawful election because they were unsatisfied with the results," Klingerman said in court Wednesday. "And like all criminal prosecutions, it seeks to punish prior behavior, educate the public and deter future efforts to do the same thing. Left unchecked, this can happen again."
In response to the close of the proceedings Wednesday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes issued a recorded statement saying the prosecution was not politically motivated and the allegations were not an expression of the defendants' First Amendment rights.
"The law draws a clear line between free expression and illegal conduct, and we believe the evidence shows that the defendants crossed that line. I am confident this court will see through the defendants' groundless arguments and reject these attempts to distort the facts of this case," Mayes said in the video statement released Wednesday.
Throughout the three-day hearing, Cohen heard arguments on two motions to dismiss the charges, as well as a motion by Mayes for an order protecting the identities of the grand jurors.
Cohen is allowing defense attorneys to file any additional briefs responding to the state's argument Wednesday by next Friday, Sept. 6. Cohen said he'll take the motions under advisement starting Monday, Sept. 9.
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