Jenna Ellis smiled in her mugshot. The former Trump attorney who was indicted alongside him and 17 others over an alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results even made the Fulton County booking photo her profile picture on Twitter. “Those who mock me, my former client, and my God want to see me break and they aren’t going to get that satisfaction,” she told The New York Times in August.

On Tuesday, through tears, Jenna Ellis accepted a plea deal from Georgia prosecutors. Five years probation and some community service in exchange for her truthful testimony against her co-defendants. While Ellis’ role in the upcoming trial remains an open-ended question, something else looms over her decision to flip on her former allies: the $216,431 crowdsourced by friends and Trump supporters to fund her legal defense.

  • EpicFailGuy@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Very good point, this is the “mens rea” that legal eagle is always talking about in his criminal case videos,

    but; couldn’t this be pursued as a civil case? where the burden of proof is much lesser?

    I guess a donation counts as a gift anyways so there’s no such thing as “defrauding donors”

    The real lesson is … we need to invest in education teach critical thinking instead of an agenda

      • UnspecificGravity@lemmings.world
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        8 months ago

        How could it be fraud? She collected money for HER legal defense, not to support going to jail on behalf of Trump. If people thought that donating to her was paying for her to lie for Trump then they are fucking stupid. She undoubtedly has and/or will incur this much in legal costs over the course of this.

      • TheOakTree@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        Not a lawyer

        Didn’t she raise funding on the premise of her legal costs? If she wasn’t promising an outcome, then it shouldn’t bind her options here. I just don’t know enough about her fundraising campaign to make a clear call.

        EDIT: Just read the other comments, sorry to be repeating what’s already been said