Floyd submitted a "general demurrer" filing, essentially a challenge to its legitimacy, on the charge of violating Georgia's RICO Act.
ATLANTA — In a new filing submitted Friday, one of the 19 co-defendants in the Georgia 2020 election RICO case is challenging the fundamental basis for his inclusion in the indictment.
Harrison Floyd was the director of Black Voices for Trump in 2020 and is charged in the RICO indictment for his alleged role in the plot to coerce a "confession" of fraud from Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman.
Floyd, generally one of the lesser-known 18 co-defendants alongside former President Trump, in particular made headlines back in August because he was the only one among them to spend extended time in jail. Floyd did not have a negotiated bond at the time he turned himself in, spending a few days in the Fulton County Jail before he was granted a bond by a judge.
RELATED: Last Trump co-defendant, Harrison Floyd, released from Fulton County Jail
On Friday Floyd submitted a "general demurrer" filing, essentially a challenge to its legitimacy, on the charge of violating Georgia's RICO Act.
In the filing, Floyd argues the indictment brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis did not establish that Floyd "knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to violate Georgia's RICO Act."
The filing argues the charge against him "fails to state a crime under Georgia law" because "there are no allegations that Mr. Floyd affirmatively agreed to participate in the conduct and overall objective of the alleged RICO enterprise" i.e. that he did not "knowingly and willfully" join a conspiracy to begin with.
It additionally argues that under Georgia law, the defendant must commit two predicate acts to be charged under RICO, and that in Floyd's case his two predicate acts are really one in the same.
"Since these acts arise out of or are only shown in a single transaction, there is only one predicate act, not two," the filing asserts.
It's not clear when Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the RICO proceedings, will take up the filing. A motions hearing regarding Floyd's case is scheduled for next Friday, Nov. 3 at 10:30 a.m.
