Trump was charged under GA's RICO law. The indictment says the 19 people indicted
" knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump. That conspiracy contained a common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, and in other states."
Conspiracy Law So you have to
A. get together with people and
B. have a common plan and
C. commit two or more a more acts "of racketeering activity." (in a RICO conspiracy)
The GA RICO law lists like 40 crimes that fall under racketeering activity.
All of these are crimes in and of themselves. There's 41 charged crimes in the indictment.
The indictment also lists a bunch "overt acts." Starting on page 20 there's a bunch of overt acts listed which includes the text
This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy
An example
If there guys are sitting around and they say we should rob a bank, that's not a conspiracy to commit bank robbery. That's guys talking smack.
However, if they they start committing overt acts to the further their plan, that's conspiracy.
A. Tom hacks into the bank's security system and steals the codes.
B. Dick steals a licence plate off a car at the airport.
C. Harry borrows his sisters car.
Tom and Dick clearly committed crimes here. A and B are clearly illegal. But it's not a crime to borrow your sister's car. So Harry did not commit a crime.
UNLESS
Harry borrows to car to lend to Tom and Dick who want to use it as the getaway car.
If Harry is already part of the conspiracy, this then becomes an overt act "in furtherance of the conspiracy" and Harry is guilty as well.
Even if Harry wasn't part of the original plan, if he knows Tom and Dick are going to use the car to rob a bank he has now become a conspirator.
Even though the specific act is not illegal in itself, it can be illegal if you do it as part of a conspiracy.
Another aspect of conspiracy law is if Tom and Dick rob the bank with two other guys Harry has never even met, they are all part of the same conspiracy. The conspirators never have to be in the same room or email thread together.
The Indictment
The Indictment lists 161 acts. Some are just overt acts. Some both a racketeering act and an overt act.
For example, Act 161 is Perjury by ROBERT DAVID CHEELEY It's described as
This was an act of racketeering activity under O.C.G.A. § 1614-3(5)(A)(xxv) and an overt act
Act 145 is Unlawful possession of ballots by several people It's illegal, but not an act of racketeering activity, because it's not part of the RICO law, but it is a violation of a different law. And it is an overt act.
So that's how you read the language like this.
**Act 154. ** On or about the 18th day of January 2021, MISTYHAMPTON allowed unindicted co- conspirators Individual 25 and Individual 29, whose identities are known to the Grand Jury, to access non-public areas of the Coffee County Board of Elections & Registration Office in Coffee County, Georgia, and facilitated their access to Dominion Voting Systems equipment This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Act 155. On or about the 22nd day ofApril2021, unindicted co-conspirator Individual 28, whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, sent an email to the Chief Operations Officer of Sullivan Strickler LLC directing him to transmit all data copied from Dominion Voting Systems equipment at the Coffee County Board of Elections & Registration Office in Coffee County, Georgia, to unindicted co-conspirator Individual 30, whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, an attorney associated with SIDNEYKATHERINE POWELL and the Trump Campaign. This was an act of racketeering activity under O.C.G.A. § 16-14-3(5)(B) and an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Fucking great post