FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Harrison Floyd, a co-defendant in the Georgia 2020 election interference case, has been granted what amounts to a procedural permission slip to seek a hearing before the state's appellate court.
It comes after Floyd's legal team's arguments seeking a dismissal of the case against him on procedural grounds have been repeatedly denied by the trial court judge, Scott McAfee.
In an order on Monday, Judge McAfee granted Floyd a certificate of immediate review, quoting Georgia law and writing that the issue "is of such importance to the case that immediate review should be had."
The legal document gives Floyd permission to request an immediate hearing before Georgia's Court of Appeals to re-evaluate McAfee's rulings, as opposed to having to wait until after a verdict is reached in the case.
Monday's court order represents the second certificate of immediate review granted in the case.
It's now up to the appellate court's discretion whether to take on the issue or not. Legal experts have told 11Alive the court has roughly two months to decide.
Floyd and 18 others, including former President Donald Trump, were indicted by a Fulton County grand jury last August on charges accusing them of criminally interfering in the 2020 presidential election. Floyd, in particular, faces three charges from alleged involvement in a plot to get then-Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman to falsely admit that she committed election fraud. He's accused of recruiting Illinois pastor Stephen Lee to arrange a meeting with Freeman and Chicago-based publicist Trevian Kutti. Floyd, Lee and Kutti were all then indicted for their alleged roles.
Floyd is also the former director of a political group called Black Voices for Trump and was the only person in the case to spend extended time in the Fulton County jail after he turned himself in without negotiating a bond. Others, like former president Trump, had a negotiated bond, so they were able to go through the jail's booking process and subsequently leave.
11Alive previously reported that Floyd's legal troubles extend beyond Georgia, as he was arrested in Maryland last year and charged in federal court with assaulting an FBI agent.