Three Accused False Electors Plead Not Guilty in Dane County Court

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)

Three men accused of developing and implementing the 2020 “false electors” scheme pleaded not guilty to felony forgery charges in Dane County Circuit Court Tuesday.

Jim Troupis, who served as Trump’s Wisconsin campaign lawyer that year, entered his plea in person in Dane County Circuit Court, a week after filing a motion to get the case moved to a different jurisdiction, arguing he cannot receive a fair trial in Madison.

Two other defendants in the criminal case, former Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro and former Trump campaign aide Michael Roman, were arraigned virtually. They also pleaded not guilty.

Each man faces 11 counts of using false documents to claim that President Donald Trump won Wisconsin in 2020, when he did not. One charge is tied to the documents themselves; the other 10 are for each of the Wisconsin Republican electors whom prosecutors allege were defrauded by the men’s actions.

The three were charged in 2024 by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, for allegedly 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 states that he had lost.

Troupis and Chesebro 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.

Troupis’ team recently filed briefs arguing that the publicity surrounding the issue for the last half decade has hurt Troupis’ ability to get a fair trial, and that one of the counts 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.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Mario White said that he is still considering those motions.

The Wisconsin Republican electors previously settled a civil lawsuit against them, 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, other accused false electors, plead not guilty in Dane County court was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.