A court might hear arguments before the election on Fani Willis’ role in Trump’s Georgia case

ATLANTA (AP) — An appeals court could hear arguments in October on the appeal of a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Monday docketed the appeals filed by nine defendants in the case, and said that “if oral argument is requested and granted” it is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 4. The court will then have until mid-March to rule, meaning the election interference case almost certainly won’t go to trial before the November general election for which Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee.

The appeal is to be decided by a three-judge panel of the intermediate appeals court. The judges assigned to the case are Judge Trenton Brown, Judge Todd Markle and Judge Benjamin Land. Once the panel rules, the losing side could ask the Georgia Supreme Court to consider an appeal.

A county grand jury in August indicted Trump and 18 others, accusing them participating in a sprawling scheme to illegally try to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Four defendants have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors, but Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty. It is one of four criminal cases against Trump.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«READ MORE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> READ MORE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> A grant program for Black women business owners is discriminatory, appeals court rules </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline