By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX — The first of the 18 people indicted in the "fake elector'' case is now totally free.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sam Myers has signed papers releasing Lorraine Pellegrino nearly two years early from her sentence of probation for three years. The judge accepted arguments by Joshua Kolsrud, her attorney, that "continued supervision serve no purpose for either Ms. Pellegrino or society.''
But Kolsrud said his client, who was the founder and former president of Ahwatukee Republican Women, has no regrets about her decision to be the only person to actually plead guilty, even if it comes as Myers has voided the indictment handed up against her and the others by the state grand jury. That decision was upheld last week by the state Court of Appeals.
Still, that doesn't mean Pellegrino's co-defendants are off the hook.
"The Attorney General's Office can still appeal the appellate court decision to the Supreme Court,'' Kolsrud said. And even if Attorney General Kris Mayes does not appeal, or the state's high court refuses to reinstate the multi-count indictment, she still can start all over again with a new grand jury.
Or the attorney general could drop the case entirely.
A spokesman for Mayes said no decision has yet been made.
And there's something else.
"If the case is ultimately dismissed by the Supreme Court ... there may be an avenue to have her case dismissed as well,'' Kolsrud said, clearing her record.
Pellegrino was one of 11 Republicans who signed documents after the 2020 election saying that Donald Trump had won the popular vote in Arizona despite the fact that he actually had lost by 10,457 votes to Joe Biden. More to the point, those documents were sent to Washington with the claim that Trump was entitled to the state's 11 electoral votes.
All were charged with fraud, conspiracy and forgery, all felonies.
Also indicted were attorneys and allies of Trump who were accused of coming up with the plan. The indictment says it was designed around the idea that Vice President Mike Pence, who is the presiding officer of the Senate, would accept what Assistant Attorney General Nicholas Klingerman called the "forged electoral college certificates'' from Arizona and other states, denying Biden the necessary 270 votes, and having Congress decide the election.
Klingerman also said the grand jurors had "interest'' in indicting Trump himself but that his office asked they do not. Instead, he is named as an "unindicted co-conspirator.''
Pellegrino made a deal in August 2024 to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of filing a false instrument. She was placed on unsupervised probation for three years and a requirement for community service.
"Ms. Pellegrino was compelled to accept a plea agreement because her husband had Stage 4 cancer,'' Kolsrud said.
"She's also elderly and felt like she couldn't fight the case and take care of her husband at the same time,'' he said. Kolsrud said getting the charges resolved meant "she really enjoyed the time that she had left with him.''
Any regrets?
"I don't think so,'' he said, saying she "couldn't do those two things at the same time.''
The early release from probation also absolves her from having to pay the monthly probation fee to Maricopa County, the minimum of which is $65.
All this comes as Mayes is fighting on two fronts to keep the case alive.
The most pressing is dealing with Myers' conclusion — upheld by the Court of Appeals — that the grand jurors were denied relevant information as they were deciding whether to indict anyone.
That information was the federal Electoral County Act of 1887, a law that addresses the possibility of competing electoral slates from a state — and how Congress must handle them. That goes to the claim by the electors that they were not trying to commit fraud but simply providing an "alternate slate'' should courts rule that Trump actually won Arizona.
Separately, there's also the claim by those indicted that Mayes violated the state's Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation law.
SLAPP, as it is known, is designed to prevent public officials from using the courts to publish and prevent speech on political issues. And that, the lawyers for the defendants argue, is exactly what this case is all about.
Myers in February said there was enough presented to believe that the charges, on their face, appeared to attack what is "at least in part some arguably lawful speech.''
He gave the attorney general's office 45 days to respond. But that issue is now on the back burner until there is resolution of whether the Supreme Court will resurrect the original indictment.
While only Pellegrino reached a plea deal, there is another pending deal with Jenna Ellis, a former attorney for the Trump 2020 campaign, that could result in all charges against her being dropped.
Ellis agreed last year to cooperate in prosecuting the fake electors and their allies.
In her agreement, Ellis said she will not only give interviews to investigators from the state Attorney General's Office but also testify wherever they want, including grand jury proceedings and any civil or criminal trials. She also agreed to turn over any documents she has related to the probe.
In exchange, the deal -- which remains unresolved while the case is still pending — allows her to walk away without facing any charges.
"We felt it was in the interests of justice to go ahead and strike this agreement with her, especially given how significant it is to advancing our case,'' Mayes said at the time.
Ellis played a key role in arguing in Arizona and elsewhere that there was fraud in the 2020 race and that Trump should have been elected.
She specifically worked with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani to convince lawmakers in Arizona to move to overturn the election results. That includes meeting with then-House Speaker Rusty Bowers who refused to call a special legislative hearing.
Instead, Giuliani and Ellis then set up what was billed as a legislative "hearing'' at a downtown Phoenix hotel where they laid out the case for overturning the results, complete with Trump calling in to Ellis' cell phone and her broadcasting his comments. The pair also had separate meetings with Republican lawmakers.
