ATLANTA — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will present the evidence in her 2020 election investigation to a grand jury in the coming months.
If you live in Fulton and you’ve recently received a jury summons, there’s a chance you could be picked to hear the case against former President Donald Trump and his allies.
Willis' findings will be presented to jurors during the upcoming court term that runs from July 11 to Sept. 1. They will decide who — if anyone — will be indicted for criminally interfering in the state's 2020 presidential election.
Fulton County Superior and State Court Jury Manager Amy von Kelsch confirmed to 11Alive that jury summonses for that term were sent. It's unclear exactly how many were sent out.
“I think they are going to try and get a bigger pool," said Danny Porter a former Gwinnett County District Attorney. "I think they are going to need more as people figure out that this might be the Trump grand jury and all that may entail.”
Summonses and grand juries in Fulton County
Willis previously told Fulton County law enforcement that she would present evidence in the Trump investigation between July 11 and Sept. 1. She hinted that early to mid-August is when the case could come before jurors.
In Georgia, the county clerk of court sends jury summonses at least 20 days before the term of court begins, according to a jury handbook created by the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia. The group provides legal research assistance and training to prosecutors across the state.
June 21 marked 20 days before the term's start date. The summonses were sent roughly 10 to 25 days ago, von Kelsch said.
Typically, no more than 75 people are summoned for a single jury. Twenty-three jurors and up to three alternates are selected for one jury.
Fulton County runs two grand juries each term. One grand jury meets on Monday and Tuesday. A second grand jury meets Thursday and Friday to hear evidence and issue indictments. It’s unclear which one will hear the Trump case.
It’s currently unclear how many summonses were sent. But the number could be close to 150, Porter said.
“I just think there’s gonna be a lot more (for) judges to deal with excuses,” he said. “They may take a hard line and just say ‘You don’t have a legal excuse? See you next Wednesday.’ My guess would be they’re going to try and give the judge as much leeway as they can in selecting the jury.”
To serve on a Fulton County grand jury, you must have lived in the county for at least six months prior to serving. You must also be a United States citizen and at least 18 years old.
Several factors — such as serving as a juror in the past 12 months or having a felony conviction — would disqualify residents from the jury pool.
Jurors could also be excused if they have scheduling conflicts like a pre-planned vacation that would prevent them from serving.
The Fulton clerk could also send additional jury summonses due to the busy travel season, said Pete Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia.
The questioning of grand jurors will likely be the same as any other grand jury questioning. The process will be less stringent than the questioning of potential trial jurors, said Skandalakis, who previously served as the District Attorney in the Coweta Judicial Circuit.
“I think it’s going to be the standard questions,” he said. “A grand jury comes in and sits for a number of cases. …There are gonna be other cases. I don’t think you’re going to see anything extraordinary.”
What’s the latest in the Georgia Trump investigation?
Willis’ investigation of Trump and his allies is ongoing. There’ve been no new court documents filed since May 24, and several matters are outstanding.
A Fulton County judge has not ruled on a motion from Trump seeking to end any potential prosecution and bury a special grand jury’s investigative report.
Willis and her office could still be offering immunity deals to targets of the investigation. At least half of the Georgia Republicans who cast false Electoral College ballots claiming Trump won the election have taken deals, according to court documents.
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Willis sought records and other information from two firms the Trump campaign hired to investigate alleged voter fraud in Georgia and other states following the election.
The firms buried their findings, and Fulton County prosecutors issued a subpoena for one of the firms, the Post reports.
Aside from the potential indictment in Georgia, Trump is already facing two other criminal cases.
The former president was indicted earlier this month on 37 federal charges in relation to his handling of classified documents at his Florida estate. Trump was first indicted in March when New York Attorney General Alvin Bragg announced the former president faced 34 felony charges of falsifying business records.