Ms. Powell, one of President Trump’s lawyers in his challenges to the results of the 2020 presidential election, is accused on six conspiracy counts alleging she got a data forensic company to access and copy data from election machines and computers in Coffee County, Georgia, without authorization on Jan. 7, 2021.
Attorney Brian Rafferty, who represents Ms. Powell, said documentary evidence exists establishing that she wasn’t involved.
He said that Coffee County officials had, in fact, issued a letter inviting the data forensics visit, thus authorizing it.
Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee at the hearing in Atlanta granted a motion from Ms. Powell and co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro to sever their cases from those of Mr. Trump and 16 other co-defendants but denied a motion to sever their cases from each other.
They will be tried together and have been granted speedy trials.
Judge McAfee took no action on other issues argued in the hearing, including the defense’s requests to interview grand jurors about possible state misconduct and the procedure for questioning jurors for their trial.
The judge said it will begin by Nov. 5.
Mr. Rafferty and Mr. Chesebro’s attorney, Scott Grubman, told Judge McAfee the state hadn’t responded for weeks to their demands for evidence beneficial to the defendants, which the state is legally obliged to turn over to them.
Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade needled them as he gave them hard drives containing eight terabytes of data on the case.
“It appears Mr. Rafferty not only wants the information handed to him but wants it spoon-fed,” Mr. Wade said.
Mr. Rafferty argued that the massive data dump wasn’t enough.
He said the state’s obligation, under the Supreme Court’s landmark 1963 Brady v. Maryland decision, isn’t satisfied “by handing over eight terabytes of information and saying, ‘Go find it.’ ”
One terabyte of data storage can hold as much as 85 million documents, according to one estimate online.
The case, one of four criminal cases the former president faces nationally, was brought on Aug. 14 by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
It alleges the defendants’ challenges to the election amounted to a conspiracy under Georgia’s Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The massive 98-page case contains 41 criminal counts.
Ms. Powell faces counts of racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit election fraud, conspiracy to commit computer theft, conspiracy to commit computer trespass, conspiracy to commit computer invasion of privacy, and conspiracy to defraud the state.
Mr. Chesebro, another lawyer representing Mr. Trump in the election challenges, is accused of devising and executing a strategy of alternate electors on which much of the indictment focuses.
Ms. Willis alleged in the indictment that Ms. Powell participated in a racketeering conspiracy by tampering with election machines and computers and stealing data from them.
She “entered into a contract” with data forensic company SullivanStrickler and “caused” its employees to copy data from election equipment in Coffee County, Georgia, after the 2020 election, the indictment said.
In fact, Ms. Powell asserted in an Aug. 30 court filing that although her name was printed on the SullivanStrickler contract, she never signed it.
“There was no contract for SullivanStrickler to conduct forensic imaging of the Coffee County Voting Systems,” her filing said.
“Ms. Powell signed no such contract. Ms. Powell did not plan or organize the Coffee County trip. Ms. Powell did not request SullivanStrickler to undertake that project,” it said.
