ATLANTA — The Fulton County case against former president Donald Trump appears stuck in a holding pattern.
The signal’s been out for weeks: The next criminal case against former President Trump, if there is to be one, will come from Atlanta.
"We could not cast a larger spotlight if we tried," Darryl Cohen, a former Fulton County prosecutor said.
So far, there's been security preps outside the courthouse. It all hinges on a grand jury inside the courthouse deciding whether to indict.
"I feel like I'm watching a soap opera unfold. Because day by day, nothing seems to happen," Cohen said.
So much nothing going on, legal experts don’t see Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis getting an indictment this week.
"It's unlikely because of a simple jury management question," Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University said.
Cohen echoed Kreis, saying the indictment won't drop this week. Instead, Georgia could make national news once again in the middle of August.
"I think it will happen early next week," Cohen said. "In my view - we'll see, I've been wrong before."
People are stuck reading these tea leaves because of a key difference between how the federal cases work and what's going on in Fulton County.
On the federal level, the special prosecutor has grand juries just to deal with the former president's cases. In Fulton County, however, it goes in the hopper with all the other Atlanta area city crime. So instead of dealing with the former president Tuesday, the grand jurors, we're dealing with a homicide case.
"The normal murders, armed robberies, drug deals," Cohen rattled off.
One thing’s clear: a handful of ordinary Georgians are in for some of the wildest jury duty imaginable.
"They have heard today a very serious case that dealt with murder and child abuse," Kreis explained. "And they very well may be asked next week to deal with this case in the election probe."
Willis is expected to condense her eight-month investigation into a two-day grand jury session that includes hearing live testimony from witnesses. So far, there's been no sign the witnesses have been given their 48-hour warning.
The timing of those notices matter.
"She probably needs two full days to present evidence to the grand jury," Kreis said.
Each of Fulton County’s two grand juries meets just two days a week.
That means if the DA’s case takes longer than two days – it would delay any expected indictment yet another week.