By Staff Reporter |
The Arizona Court of Appeals declined to accept Attorney General Kris Mayes’ appeal to prosecute President Donald Trump’s 2020 electors.
The appeals court order said in a brief ruling that, based on its “discretion,” it would not overturn a superior court ruling requiring Mayes to again secure an indictment from a grand jury.
This determination comes just four months after the Maricopa County Superior Court remanded Mayes’ case back to the grand jury.
The judge found that Mayes violated due process when seeking felony indictments for conspiracy, fraud, and forgery against 11 Trump electors.
According to the ruling, Mayes’ failure to give the grand jury a document critical to the electors’ defense, the Electoral Count Act of 1887 (ECA), before securing the indictment deprived the 2020 electors of due process. The ruling meant, effectively, that Mayes had to redo her entire case.
The 2020 electors argued they acted lawfully and in good faith under the ECA.
The attorney general attempted to justify withholding the full text of the ECA from the grand jury by citing the inclusion of “relevant portions” dispersed through memorandums, an interview, a letter, and an article from CNN. The judge declined to accept that select passages of the ECA contextualized in disparate works were equal to the document in its unabridged entirety.
“A prosecutor has a duty to instruct the grand jury on all the law applicable to the facts of the case,” stated the judge. “Due process compels the prosecutor to make a fair and impartial presentation to the grand jury. … Because the State failed to provide the ECA to the grand jury, the Court finds that the defendants were denied a substantial procedural right as guaranteed by Arizona law.”
In order to prosecute the 2020 electors, the superior court ruled, Mayes would have to disclose the full ECA to a grand jury before securing an indictment.
Arizona GOP Chairwoman Gina Swoboda said Mayes is unfit for office due to her focus on lawfare against political opponents distracting from criminal prosecutions.
“Arizona families deserve an Attorney General who prosecutes criminals, not political opponents,” said Swoboda. “Five years later, Kris Mayes is still fixated on 2020 while violent crime, fentanyl trafficking, and border chaos threaten our communities every single day. This obsession is not justice — it’s politics.”
A spokesman for Mayes would not say to reporters whether they would appeal to the state supreme court. However, Mayes’ communications director, Richie Taylor, rejected Swoboda’s accusation in a statement.
“This case has never been about anything other than preserving democracy and upholding the rule of law,’’ said Taylor. “Pretending it’s politically motivated is just a convenient way for the GOP chair to distract from the facts of the case.’’
This statement was among the first public comments issued by Taylor since deleting his social media accounts after his online commentary emerged on Turning Point USA founder and CEO Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Tyler Bowyer, the CEO of Turning Point Action (the political action arm of TPUSA) and indicted elector in Mayes’ case, expressed relief at Monday’s ruling and scorn for Mayes’ continued expenditure of public funding on this case.
“Another huge loss for the radical AG who has wasted millions of AZ taxpayer dollars!” posted Bowyer on X.
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