Scott Hall, one of the 19 co-defendants in a case over election interference in Georgia, has pleaded guilty to five criminal counts. This makes him the first to plead guilty in the wide-ranging case, which alleges a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the 2020 presidential race results. Hall reached a deal with Fulton County prosecutors and agreed to testify in future proceedings.
As part of the plea deal, Hall received five years’ probation and a $5,000 fine. He pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of conspiring to commit intentional interference with the performance of election duties. Originally facing seven felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud the state and unlawful possession of ballots, Hall was accused of helping breach election equipment in Coffee County, Georgia, in an unsuccessful attempt to prove false claims of voter fraud made by former President Donald Trump.
The indictment names Trump, along with allies such as Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, as co-defendants. Prosecutors allege that they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in Georgia. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in all four cases he faces related to election interference.
The prosecutors are pursuing the 19 co-defendants under the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a law commonly used against organized crime. Hall played a minor role in the alleged conspiracy, having investigated the election on behalf of the President at the request of David Bossie, a conservative activist and Trump ally.
On January 7, 2021, Hall traveled to Coffee County, where local officials, also charged in the indictment, granted him access to the Coffee County Board of Elections and Registration Office. Prosecutors claim that Hall, accompanied by workers from the data firm SullivanStrickler, made copies of data from sensitive election materials, including ballot scanners and hard drives. In a recording released to the media, Hall can be heard stating, “I went down there. We scanned every freaking ballot.”
