Las Vegas judge asks prosecutors to explain Nevada fake electors case, venue

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A district court judge is giving prosecutors two weeks to explain why charges filed against six Nevada Republicans who submitted fake electoral certificates claiming former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election should be tried in Clark County rather than in the northern part of the state.

In December, a Clark County grand jury indicted the group on charges of offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument, stemming from the submission of the documents in 2020. Both charges are felonies. State prosecutors charged Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald, Clark County Republican Party Chairman Jesse Law, Jim DeGraffenreid, Durward “James” Hindle III, Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice. All six have pleaded not guilty and their trial was scheduled for next year.

During a hearing Wednesday, Judge Mary Kay Holthus asked the state to provide her with more information about why the case should be heard in her court. She requested prosecutors file their documents within two weeks so lawyers for the group could then respond and she could review them by mid-June.

“What exactly occurred here to give us jurisdiction here? That’s all I want,” Holthus told state prosecutors, which included Democratic Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford.

Holthus indicated she believed either side would appeal her ruling on the legalities of the grand jury indictment and venue to the state supreme court either way.

The six electors signed paperwork signaling their support for Former President Donald Trump in a symbolic ceremony devoid of any legal merit and coinciding with the official state-sanctioned tally on Dec. 14, 2020. The purpose of the documents was to force Congress to decide the presidential election, according to people whom the Jan. 6 committee interviewed. A legal advisor to the Trump campaign, Kenneth Chesebro, emailed DeGraffenreid about the plan, the committee found.

As the 8 News Now Investigators reported in December 2021, the certificate sent by Nevada Republicans and received by the National Archives looks much different than the official state-sealed one and reads, “We, the undersigned, being the duly elected and qualified electors for president and vice president of the United States of America from the State of Nevada, do hereby certify six electoral votes for Trump.”

In documents filed earlier this year, lawyers for the six fake electors claim Law was not in Nevada in the days before the event nor is there evidence McDonald was in Clark County in the certificates’ drafting phase. The lawyers argue that “the first time the evidence shows defendants engaged in any acts relating to the documents at issue” was in Carson City, documents said.

In the days after and in filings since, the six Republican electors said they filed the certificates due to the then-ongoing legal battles from the Trump campaign. However, in mid-December 2020, no legal case remained open in Nevada. The Nevada Supreme Court ruled against the Trump campaign on Dec. 8, 2020, six days before the Dec. 14 ceremony. However, lawyers claim the U.S. Supreme Court had yet to weigh in, though the panel ultimately did not.

Holthus scheduled a hearing for June 18.

Nevada law requires the secretary of state to oversee the certification of the state’s electoral certificates. Then-Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican, oversaw the official certification process on the same day as the Republican event.

The Nevada GOP repeatedly denied requests from 8 News Now to review their evidence of allegations of fraud throughout the fall of 2020. At a news conference on Nov. 5, 2020, where surrogates from the Trump campaign announced a federal lawsuit, speakers told reporters to find the evidence for themselves. That lawsuit was later dropped. During the sole hearing in that case, a lawyer provided no evidence of fraud and did not verbally bring up any evidence to the federal judge.

Last year, Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed Senate Bill 133, which lawmakers approved during the 2023 Nevada Legislature that would have established penalties for the fake electors’ actions. Lombardo defended the sanctity of elections but said the penalties in the bill were out of scale.

While testifying in favor of that bill before the Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections, Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford said no Nevada law allowed him to take possible action.

The Jan. 6 committee interviewed both McDonald and Republican elector Jim DeGraffenreid. Both men invoked their Fifth Amendment rights repeatedly — McDonald more than 200 times. Neither, nor a party spokesperson, has returned repeated requests for comment.

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