ATLANTA — Donald Trump has now been indicted in Georgia, putting in motion a legal case that may be the most ambitious the former president faces.
Trump and several of his political allies are being accused of committing an illegal conspiracy that violated a number of state laws when they orchestrated a campaign to reverse his 2020 election loss in Georgia. The legal process that now awaits Trump will undoubtedly be a long one.
Here's an overview of how it might look:
Donald Trump indictment in Georgia | What happens next
- Booking
Trump would have to be processed in some way by authorities in Fulton County after being charged. It's possible his lawyers would communicate with local law enforcement agencies to arrange for him to turn himself in on certain terms.
There remains some uncertainty about how exactly this entire process could look.
However, in a media advisory Tuesday, The Fulton County Sheriff's Office mentioned that based on the guidance received from the district attorney’s office and presiding judge, it is expected that all 19 defendants named in the indictment will be booked at the Rice Street Jail.
- First appearance
This step would involve the reading of charges against Trump, also referred to as an arraignment.
At these proceedings, a judge can issue a bond if the charges don't rise to a certain level, usually associated with violent crimes. It's also possible Trump's lawyers would have negotiated a bond with the DA's Office ahead of time.
Many times a first appearance in Georgia is also waived entirely.
The Fulton County Sheriff's Office said in this case, arraignments/appearances may be virtual as dictated by the presiding judge.
- Preliminary hearing
A preliminary hearing functions as a first, lower hurdle to determine if there is probable cause for the case to move forward.
There can be extensive testimony in these hearings, and the matter of bond can again be raised. For example in the Young Slime Life RICO preliminary hearing last year, prosecutors made lengthy arguments about the evidence of the case and against bond for rapper Young Thug, while his defense attorneys were able to call witnesses to speak to his character as they argued for bond.
- Pretrial
This is where things would likely get really drawn out.
There are many sorts of motions about evidence that can be used at trial, witnesses who could be called and more elements of how the trial would proceed that can take many months to get court dates for, argue and have a judge rule on.
It's almost certain Trump and others indicted in this RICO case would move to have the case dismissed, which would require a ruling from a Fulton County judge and then need to be appealed up the Georgia judicial system.
Melissa Redmon, a University of Georgia Law professor and former Fulton County prosecutor, explained the potential complications of this stage of things to 11Alive last month.
"You'll see the pretrial motions to dismiss, and attorneys stating why the case should be dismissed, so those should be the initial motions and then if the case survives, then motions on what type of evidence is admissible or should be excluded, so then those get litigated," she said. "All that would happen before you actually get to scheduling when the trial would occur."
She also explained the motivation the Trump team will have to drag things out.
"You have the election cycle coming up so their motivation would be to not have to deal with this until later on, so I think it would be more pretrial motions, appeals of however those motions - whichever way the judge rules on those motions - so that would lend to a delay before you even get to jury selection," she said.
- Trial date + Jury selection
Once pretrial is sorted out, the court would then move to setting a trial date, which begins with jury selection.
That process can then drag out in a complicated RICO proceeding, as YSL has shown us. However it may not be as bad for the Trump case, as Redmon explained last month.
Because the YSL trial is expected to go so long and because it involves more violent crimes, there have been more avenues for people to claim hardship or claim they fear retribution than there would likely be with a Trump RICO jury selection, Redmon said.
- Trial
Once all that is sorted, you'd arrive at the trial. It could be a very long while before Atlanta sees that occur.
More Trump Georgia coverage
- What to know about Georgia's Trump investigation
- Coffee County election allegations could be part of Fulton indictments against Trump, allies
- Ahead of potential Trump indictment, subpoenaed witnesses share thoughts ahead of testimony
- Donald Trump could soon be indicted in Georgia. This is how we got here
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