After a nearly three-month break, the election interference case is back on track against the lone sitting elected official charged by Georgia prosecutors.
State Sen. Shawn Still’s case was placed on hold during the Georgia General Assembly’s 2024 session. With the session over, the Norcross Republican filed a slew of court documents last week – including a motion challenging the charges against him on various grounds.
In a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Still declined to discuss the details of the charges. But it will be hard to avoid the topic as he seeks re-election against an opponent who has made an issue of Still’s alleged criminal conduct.
Still is one of 19 people charged last summer in the election interference case brought by Fulton County prosecutors. The indictment says they participated in an alleged scheme to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia in the 2020 election. His fellow defendants include former President Donald Trump, former Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer and a slew of attorneys, campaign operatives and others who aided Trump.
Still is charged with racketeering, impersonating a public officer, forgery and other crimes. Before he was elected to the Senate in 2022, he served as one of 16 Republican presidential electors who cast their votes for Trump, though Biden had won the state.
The electors maintained their vote was needed to protect Trump’s ability to return to office if he succeeded in overturning Biden’s victory in court (he did not). Prosecutors say the electors participated in an illegal scheme to pressure state legislators and Vice President Mike Pence to overturn a legitimate election.
Prosecutors charged only three of the electors: Still, Shafer and former Coffee County GOP Chair Cathleen Latham. Still has maintained his innocence and has filed numerous motions to have charges against him dismissed.
Credit: Fulton County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Fulton County Sheriff's Office
Prosecutors had also been investigating another Republican elector, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. But District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified from the probe and the head of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia will now decide if Jones will face charges.
Unlike Still, Jones was in elected office when he served as a Trump elector. Charging sitting officials can be complicated by legislative immunity and other legal issues.
In January, Still bought himself some time by asking Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to put his case on hold during the legislative session. McAfee granted the request, citing a state law that entitles legislators to a stay in legal proceedings while the Legislature is in session.
A lot has happened since then – including an unsuccessful effort by defendants to disqualify Willis from prosecuting the case. That matter is under appeal.
The legislative session ended March 28. The next day, prosecutors filed numerous responses to Still’s motions to dismiss the charges.
Last Thursday, Still responded with his own flurry of court filings. They included responses to the state, plus a motion adopting arguments made by other defendants. Still also asked the court to take “judicial notice” of facts about his service as an elector that portray his actions in a favorable light.
It’s unclear when the charges against him and the other defendants will be resolved. McAfee has not scheduled a trial date, but it’s unlikely to come before Still stands for re-election in November.
His Democratic opponent is Ashwin Ramaswami, a law student from Johns Creek who worked in election security during the 2020 election.
“Democracy is on the ballot here in Georgia this November,” Ramaswami wrote on X Friday. “An indicted Trump fake elector or me — a former election security professional. Choices don’t get much more stark.”
Still, who owns a pool contracting business, told the AJC last week that he never considered not seeking re-election.
“I think that, for my kids, for my company, for my friends and family that have supported me, the only way to truly prove my innocence in all of it was to run for reelection, get reelected and prove that all the charges were false,” he said.
Staff writer Patricia Murphy contributed to this report
