Nevada’s ‘fake electors’ case gets Las Vegas hearing date
The case against Nevada’s so-called fake electors will be considered in Clark County again early next year.
District Judge Mary Kay Holthus scheduled a hearing on Feb. 2 for six Republicans facing criminal charges over their actions in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
The new court date is the latest in a years-long case. In November, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled the case can be prosecuted in Clark County, reversing a lower court decision that led to its filing in Carson City. Attorneys in February will argue whether the case should continue.
The defendants are: longtime Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald; former Clark County Republican Party Chairman Jesse Law; James Hindle, the state’s party vice chair; James DeGraffenreid, the Nevada party’s national committeeman; Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice. A grand jury indicted them in December 2023 on charges of offering a false instrument for filing and forgery. They have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors have alleged that the group, nominated by the Republican Party, held a ceremony in Carson City and signed an electoral certificate to give Nevada’s electoral votes to President Donald Trump, though former President Joe Biden had just won the swing state by nearly 33,600 votes.
That certificate was sent to the president of the Senate, the archivist of the U.S., the Nevada secretary of state and the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, according to the office of the attorney general.
Holthus dismissed the case in June 2024, arguing the court had no jurisdiction over the case. State prosecutors appealed but filed another version of the case in Carson City. In November, the Nevada Supreme Court determined Clark County was the proper venue because the false certificates were sent to federal court in Las Vegas.
Trump issued preemptive federal pardons for dozens of people accused of trying to reverse the results of the 2020 election, including the six defendants. But the pardons have no effect on the Nevada case because they are state charges.
Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.
