WASHINGTON - Feb. 8, 2021 - A new criminal complaint - one of several which could put the former president behind prison bars - will be publicly debated on Wednesday morning, and could result in two different criminal investigations in Georgia, notes public interest law professor John Banzhaf.
David Worley, a member of the Georgia Election Board, said he ask the Board on Wednesday to make a criminal referral to both Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
According to the New York Times, "Worley said he would introduce the motion based on an outside complaint filed with the state election board by John F. Banzhaf III, a George Washington University law professor. Mr. Banzhaf and other legal experts say Mr. Trump's calls may run afoul of at least three state criminal laws. One is criminal solicitation to commit election fraud, which can be either a felony or a misdemeanor."
Subsequently, Reuters reported that "the complaint that prompted Worley's motion came from John Banzhaf, a George Washington University law professor with a long history of public-interest legal work, which includes playing a role in driving cigarette commercials off the air."
In his supplemental complaint, Banzhaf also cites more than a dozen criminal law and/or election law experts who have either publicly concluded that the former president has committed crimes under Georgia law, or that, at the very least, the evidence of criminality is now strong enough to open a formal criminal investigation.
These experts include two past presidents of the State Bar of Georgia, many former U.S. attorneys, a former Georgia Secretary of State as well as several former Georgia prosecutors, the dean of a Georgia law school as well as a Georgia law school professor, and what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution termed a "cascade of elected officials."
Banzhaf's new supplemental complaint notes that while many criminal law and election law experts have concluded - based solely upon evidence already known - that Trump has violated Georgia's criminal laws "beyond a reasonable doubt," the legal standard of proof for prosecutors to initiate a criminal investigation is much lower, and the evidence required for the Board to request a prosecutor to consider a criminal investigation is even less demanding.
Thus, not even the minimal evidentiary standard of "probable cause" is necessary to initiate a criminal investigation, notes Banzhaf, reminding the Board that even evidence which is simply "specific and credible" (citing a case he won), or constitutes no more than a "credible allegation of wrongdoing" (citing FBI Director James Comey) is sufficient.
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