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Kenneth Chesebro, the attorney behind the "fake electors" plan following the 2020 presidential election, reached a last-minute plea deal with Georgia prosecutors on Friday (October 20).
The deal was announced shortly after jury selection in his trial had begun.
Chesebro is the first of the 19 defendants charged in the sprawling RICO case by Fulton County District Attorney Fanni Willis to plead guilty to felony charges. Two other defendants, Sidney Powell and Scott Hall, reached plea agreements in which they pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.
Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents. He agreed to testify in the trial against former President Donald Trump and the other co-defendants. He was also sentenced to five years of probation, 100 hours of community service, and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.
Chesebro was initially charged with seven crimes as part of a sprawling 41-count indictment against Trump and 19 co-defendants. He was accused of being the mastermind of a plan to send fake electors who would support Trump, even though President Joe Biden won the state.