Nevada Supreme Court Restores Criminal Case Against Six Fake Electors
 

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Nevada’s top court revives state’s ‘fake electors’ case in Clark County

By Ella Lee

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Nevada’s top court on Thursday revived the state’s stalled criminal case against six Republicans who signed false Electoral College certificates claiming Donald Trump won the state in 2020. The decision ends a yearlong venue dispute that had paused one of the remaining fake-elector prosecutions in the country.

Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) initially filed charges in Clark County, but a lower-court judge dismissed the case last year, ruling prosecutors should have filed in Carson City, where the documents were signed. The Nevada Supreme Court disagreed, determining the alleged crime was completed only when the false certificates were received by a federal judge in Clark County.

“Venue was properly laid in Clark County,” Justice Lidia Stiglich wrote, concluding the offenses “necessarily involved the receipt of the certificates” where they were mailed.

The defendants — Nevada GOP chair Michael McDonald, Jesse Law, Jim DeGraffenreid, Durward James Hindle III, Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice — pleaded not guilty to felony charges that carry penalties of up to four or five years in prison. All six were pardoned by Trump on Sunday, but Ford has emphasized the pardons apply only to federal offenses and “have no bearing” on state prosecutions.

Ford said he will now resume the case in Clark County. The broader fake-elector effort sought to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to certify alternate Trump-aligned slates in multiple battleground states that were won by Joe Biden, who carried Nevada by more than 33,000 votes.

Several similar prosecutions in Georgia, Arizona and Michigan face uncertainty as prosecutors weigh next steps following recent court setbacks.