A year later, the sprawling Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump has stalled

ATLANTA (AP) — A year after a Georgia grand jury indicted Donald Trump and others for illegally attempting to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election, the case has stalled and has no likelihood of being tried before the end of the year.

When Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis obtained the indictment a year ago Thursday, it was the fourth and most sweeping criminal case against the former president. Trump narrowly lost in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden, and Willis used Georgia’s anti-bribery law to allege that he and 18 others participated in a wide-ranging conspiracy to subvert the will of the state’s voters.

Willis’ team has scored some early victories in the case, but controversial allegations made by one in every of Trump’s co-defendants earlier this year have delayed the proceedings and will even derail the prosecution.

Here are some facts you need to find out about this case.

A long indictment that casts a large net

The nearly 100-page indictment contained 41 criminal charges against Trump and 18 others. In addition to the former president, his White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and conservative lawyer Sidney Powell were also charged.

All three defendants have been charged with violating state anti-corruption laws, and the indictment accommodates 161 alleged counts to back that up. The narrative presented by prosecutors is that multiple individuals committed separate crimes to attain a standard goal — difficult Trump’s election defeat.

The indictment includes charges stemming from a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger through which Trump urged the state’s top elections official to assist him “find” the votes he needed to win. Other charges include inducing a slate of Republican electors to falsely state that Trump had won the state, allegations of harassing an election employee in Georgia and tampering with election equipment in a rural south Georgia county.

The judge overseeing the case in March dismissed six counts in the indictment, including three of the 13 charges against Trump. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote that prosecutors didn’t provide sufficient detail about the alleged crime in those charges. Willis’ team has appealed that ruling.

First of its kind mugshot

When Trump arrived in Atlanta last August to be arrested on the charges, he was quickly released on bail. But his transient stay in Fulton County Jail marked the first time the former president needed to pose for a mugshot.

While Trump and the other defendants needed to be taken to jail, they waived their first court appearances. While his lawyers have been present and presented arguments at quite a few hearings over the past year, Trump has yet to set foot in a Georgia court.

Early victories for prosecutors

Four of the 18 people charged with Trump in Georgia pleaded guilty to lesser charges after reaching deals with prosecutors inside months of the indictment.

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Bail bondsman Scott Hall pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in September. Prosecutors accused him of participating in an election equipment breach in rural Coffee County.

The following month, Powell and attorney Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty. Powell was also charged with violating Coffee County, while Chesebro helped organize the Republicans’ election plan. Both reached plea deals with prosecutors just before their scheduled trial, citing their rights to a speedy trial.

Days later, attorney Jenna Ellis, who actively supported Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, tearfully pleaded guilty.

Lecherous accusations turn the case the other way up

In early January, a lawyer for co-defendant Michael Roman, a Trump campaign staffer and former White House aide, alleged in court papers that Willis had engaged in a bootleg romantic relationship with attorney Nathan Wade, whom she had appointed to guide the prosecution of Trump and others.

The lawsuit alleged that Willis benefited financially from the case because Wade used his earnings to take her on trips. It said this created a conflict of interest and that Willis and her office needs to be faraway from the case. Willis and Wade admitted to the relationship but said they split travel and other expenses.

In a unprecedented hearing, intimate details of Willis and Wade’s personal lives were aired in court and broadcast continue to exist television. Judge McAfee chastised Willis for a “gross lapse in judgment” but found no conflict of interest that may justify her removal if Wade left the case. Wade resigned hours later.

Trump and other defendants have appealed McAfee’s ruling. That appeal is currently before the Georgia Court of Appeals, which plans to listen to arguments in December after which must issue a ruling by mid-March. In the meantime, the appeals court has barred McAfee from taking further motion in the case against Trump or the other defendants in the appeal while it’s pending.

What’s next?

It’s not entirely clear.

Regardless of how the Court of Appeals rules, the losing side will likely ask the Georgia Supreme Court to weigh in. That would cause further delay if the high court were to conform to hear the case.

The November general election, through which Trump is the Republican presidential candidate, brings more uncertainty. Even if appeals courts ultimately determine Willis can stay in the case, it seems unlikely she would have the opportunity to proceed prosecuting Trump while he’s president if he wins the election.

Complicating matters further, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that former presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for official actions that fall inside their “exclusive sphere of constitutional authority” and are presumptively entitled to immunity for all official actions. They will not be protected for unofficial or private actions.

Trump’s lawyers in Georgia filed a motion for presidential immunity earlier this year. If Willis is allowed to proceed her criminal case sooner or later, his lawyers are certain to make use of the Supreme Court ruling to argue it needs to be dismissed.