Jim Troupis Says He Can’t Get Fair Trial in Madison

Jim Troupis, a Republican attorney and former judge, center, makes his initial appearance in court Dec. 12, 2024, at the Dane County Courthouse in Madison, Wis. Troupis, Kenneth Chesebro and Michael Roman were arraigned for charges related to their roles in the 2020 fake elector scheme that aimed to overturn Donald Trump’s Wisconsin loss to Joe Biden. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

Attorneys for Jim Troupis, who served as President Donald Trump’s 2020 Wisconsin campaign lawyer, are arguing that Troupis cannot receive a fair trial in Madison. They’re asking for his criminal trial to be moved out of Dane County.

In briefs filed to the court on Tuesday, Troupis’ attorneys also argued that one of his felony forgery charges should be dropped, because Troupis — along with dozens of other people involved in Trump’s efforts to overturn the outcome of his failed second bid for the White House — received a federal pardon.

Troupis faces 11 criminal counts of forgery for his role in developing the false electors scheme, in which Republican delegates for Trump in Wisconsin and other swing states submitted official-looking documentation attesting that Trump had won their states, even though he had lost.

Troupis and former Trump campaign attorney Ken Chesebro, who will also stand trial in Wisconsin, have been accused of developing that scheme, using Wisconsin as a testing ground. They argue that they were maintaining all of Trump’s legal avenues while his challenges to state outcomes moved through various courts.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice brought criminal charges against Troupis, Chesebro and Mike Roman, a 2020 Trump campaign aide, in 2024.

These briefs are Troupis’ team’s latest efforts to move off the trial, after a judge in December found probable cause for the case against him to move forward. They’d previously argued that the judge presiding over the case had engaged in misconduct. That argument was unsuccessful.

In one brief, Troupis’ attorneys argued that the publicity that has surrounded the case for the last half-decade has irreparably hurt Troupis’ ability to get a fair trial. They argue that Dane County public figures including state Supreme Court justices and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway disparaged Troupis, and that local media has tainted public opinion.

It also argues that the state Department of Justice’s argument, that Troupis’ actions harmed all Wisconsin voters whose ballots were challenged, would mean that nearly every eligible Dane County juror counts as a victim of Troupis’ alleged crimes.

“This case is headed to trial. No question. Neither side is going to blink. And when we get to trial, Troupis has the right to a fair and impartial jury,” reads the brief. “To make sure that he has that, the jurors must be free of bias and contempt, they can’t be victims and they can’t identify with them. That, plus provocative and emotionally-charged pretrial publicity, necessitates a change of venue.”

In the other brief, Troupis’ lawyers say that one of the 11 counts against him should be dropped, because he was on a recent Trump pardon list of people involved in the false electors scheme. Chesebro and Roman were also on that list.

Federal pardons have no impact on state investigations. But in the brief, Troupis’ lawyers say that the document that the false electors signed was a real document, not a forgery. It also argues that the state cannot prosecute over the casting of electoral votes, because that is a federal process — and, therefore, Trump’s pardon does apply here.

The other 10 criminal counts are tied to each of the 10 false electors, whom prosecutors allege were defrauded by Troupis, Chesebro and Roman.

Those electors previously settled a civil lawsuit against them for signing those documents in December of 2020, in which they admitted that their actions were “part of an attempt to improperly overturn the 2020 presidential election results.”

Troupis and Chesebro also separately settled that civil lawsuit.

Jim Troupis argues he can’t get a fair trial in Madison over false electors criminal charges was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.