Updated October 20, 2023 at 12:58 PM ET
Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer who authored memos detailing how Republicans could send false slates of presidential electors to Congress, has pleaded guilty in the Georgia election interference case that charged him and 18 others.
Chesebro pleaded guilty Friday to one felony count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents. Prosecutors recommended he serve five years of probation, pay restitution and complete community service, along with testifying at trial.
Jury selection for his trial had been slated to begin Friday. Chesebro, who requested a speedy trial in the case, had been set to go to trial alongside attorney Sidney Powell, but she also took a plea deal, on Thursday.
The planned October trial for Powell and Chesebro had been seen as a sort of first run of prosecutors' sweeping narrative of the alleged conspiracy.
A trial date for the case's other co-defendants, including former President Donald Trump, has not been set.
Chesebro was charged in the Georgia case with seven felony counts, including racketeering.
According to the indictment, one memo he wrote "provides detailed, state-specific instructions for how Trump presidential elector nominees in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin would meet and cast electoral votes" for Trump, even though he lost the election in those states.
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