Bench warrant issued for pro-Trump Michigan lawyer facing criminal charges
A Pro-Trump lawyer who faces criminal charges in an alleged scheme to illegally obtain voting machines has an outstanding bench warrant for failing to appear in court over her refusal to be fingerprinted. Stefanie Lambert − who has so far refused to turn herself in − alleges in appeals court filings fingerprinting would violate her constitutional rights.
A grand jury charged Lambert and other allies of former President Donald Trump over alleged voting machine tampering last August in Oakland County where the breaches allegedly took place. Lambert's case was on track to proceed to trial at the start of next month until she failed to appear last week for a hearing over her refusal to comply with a court order to be fingerprinted. But during a hearing Wednesday, Chief Circuit Judge Jeffery Matis said he will look to set a later trial date.
The court first entered an order for fingerprints last August.
Lambert has filed a motion in the Michigan Court of Appeals seeking to quash and dismiss the indictment along with any order to submit fingerprinting. After Matis denied a request to set aside the bench warrant for Lambert during a hearing Wednesday, saying she had ample opportunity to appear, Lambert followed up with additional emergency appeals court filings fighting the fingerprinting order.
It is unclear when the case may proceed to trial with the bench warrant outstanding. "We have a warrant. It needs to be satisfied, and once it is, we can discuss where we want to go with this case," Matis said during the hearing Wednesday. In previous hearings in the voting machine case, Matis has repeatedly expressed a desire to move the matter forward and avoid delay.
In addition to Lambert, former state Rep. Daire Rendon, R-Lake City, and former GOP attorney general candidate Matt DePerno also face criminal charges in the alleged voting machine plot.
In her latest appeals court filings, Lambert is representing herself after an apparent communication breakdown with her previous lawyer over a hearing on Lambert's fingerprinting. She maintains that she "did not willfully fail to appear" that day.
An appeals court filing from Lambert Wednesday night describes a bizarre series of events to explain what transpired between her and former lawyer Michael Smith, including a "catastrophic explosion" at a Clinton Township location where Smith kept his client files, a cyber-attack at his office and miscommunication about whether Lambert needed to show up to be fingerprinted.
"Additionally, Mr. Smith was clearly upset about the explosion and things that he learned over the phone and said his stomach hurt and that he just knew something bad was going to happen," Lambert wrote in her filing without providing further specifics about his concerns. Lambert denies that she willfully failed to appear in court last week.
While she currently represents herself in the appeals court filings, former Michigan GOP general counsel Dan Hartman has stepped in to represent Lambert in the criminal case in Oakland County.
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During the 2020 election cycle, Lambert served as an attorney in cases fighting Trump's loss in Michigan and the administration of the election. After President Joe Biden entered office, she continued to question the legitimacy of the 2020 election and pressed local officials in Michigan to carry out investigations.
Biden won Michigan by more than 154,000 votes in 2020. Post-election audits, a GOP-led legislative investigation and court rulings have upheld Biden's victory in the state.
Staff writer Arpan Lobo contributed to this report
Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pro-Trump Michigan attorney fights fingerprinting order
