A Michigan state judge on Tuesday dismissed charges against the fake electors who signed certificates falsely claiming President Donald Trump won Michigan in the 2020 election, saying that the state failed to prove the 15 men and women were knowingly trying to break the law.
The group includes current and former state GOP officials, a Republican National Committee member, a mayor, a school board member and Trump supporters who were the plaintiffs in a frivolous lawsuit that tried to overturn the 2020 results. Each was facing eight charges.
“This is a fraud case, and we have to approve intent, and I don’t believe that there’s evidence sufficient to prove intent,” Judge Kristen Simmons said from the bench Tuesday in her Lansing courtroom.
The ruling ends the criminal prosecutions, which sought to punish state-level actors for ignoring the popular vote results, which went in favor of Joe Biden, and instead institute the will of political actors who supported Trump.
Michigan was one of the seven battleground states where the Trump campaign put forward slates of “fake electors” as part of a plan to undermine the Electoral College process and potentially disrupt Congress’ certification of the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021.
In issuing her ruling, Simmons said the fake electors truly believed they were carrying out their constitutional duty by signing the fake documents.
“Right, wrong or indifferent, it was these individuals and many other individuals in the state of Michigan who sincerely believe, for some reason, that there were some serious irregularities with the election, or with the voting, and that somehow their candidate didn’t receive all the votes that was intended to for them,” the judge said.
Their actions were “prompted by that belief,” she said, and therefore lack the criminal intent required to convict.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
