Jack Clifford: Lake v. Hobbs, the ruling

Powerline ^ | 12/26/2022 | Jack Clifford

[Fury]

"After laying out the “clear and convincing” burden of proof Lake needed to carry, the court summarized and evaluated the witnesses and evidence Lake presented. The court looked to Arizona case law going back to 1898, before we became a state in 1912, for the proposition “it is . . . unwise to lay down any rule by which the certainty and accuracy of an election may be jeopardized by the reliance upon any proof affecting such results that is not of the most clear and conclusive character.” (See opinion for the citations.)"

and:

"What difference does it make? Lots of difference. Here’s how. Much of Lake’s case was hearsay. Ms. Honey relied on what another person said in an affidavit about ballots being added to the stream of ballots by Runbeck employees without a chain of custody for them and in violation of law. She did not see this happen with her own eyes. Defense counsel was unable to cross examine the person who allegedly saw the deed take place."

[Fury]

Interesting that the Maricopa County attorney who said:

“Who goes out and tells their voters, don’t vote on day 1 of early voting, day 2, day 3, all the way up to day 26 of early voting. They wait till the last second. That’s political malpractice.

You reap what you sow. “

is G. Gordon Liddy’s son.

[Colo9250]

Yes and who goes out in a rally and says “ Are there any McCain supporters here? well we don’t need you!”

Also, was there really any people that were unable to vote that day? If so why weren’t they called as witnesses?

[drjimmy]

I suppose it is too late to tell this to Lake’s lawyers, who didn’t introduce any such thing as evidence in the case.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Friggin’ worthless Feral RAT “judges”. Black-robed fascists are all they are.

[Fury]

Yeah, not the smartest thing to say to voters a few days before the election.

[Kazan]

Thanks for correcting me on that.

[Oystir]

Really? Read what a conservative source wrote AFTER what I wrote: https://www.dailywire.com/news/kari-lake-could-be-on-hook-for-big-payday-benefiting-dem-lawyer-from-steele-dossier-debacle

She’s a fraud; not a savior.

[Coronal]

Affidavits in themselves are not admissible evidence in a trial. Lake’s attorney didn’t call any of the affiants to testify, so they were effectively worthless.

[DiogenesLamp]

What is wrong with you? Why do you come up with this crappy interpretation of events when presented (presumably) with the same facts I have seen?

The f*cked up ballots alone should have gotten the election thrown out. This is how rational people think.

I don't grasp your view at all.

[Coronal]

“The f*cked up ballots” were transcribed onto proper ballots and were scanned and counted.

[lepton]

They were offered, but under an extension of the very brief time allowed for presentation of evidence.

BTW, did you catch the defenses close when they argued that even if extra ballots were injected that there was no way for the claimant to prove it?

[lepton]

Interesting that he says the claim that the County could not produce chain of custody is just hearsay, rather than requiring the County to produce chain of custody. Not to mention the County admitting they didn’t have actual chain of custody before they sent off ballots to a private contractor, but they had people there, rather than having a count of everything as it came in.

[Political Junkie Too]

BTW, did you catch the defenses close when they argued that even if extra ballots were injected that there was no way for the claimant to prove it?

I remember thinking at the time that the defense was using one crime (not tabulating ballots at the polling place per election procedures) as a defense of another crime (not being able to prove that ballots were "injected" at a later point in the chain of custody.

If the ballots were counted at the polling place before being shipped to the central tabulation center, then they would be able to prove that additional ballots were inserted.

The judge allowed one crime to be used to excuse another crime.

-PJ

[Theophilus]

We've preached Democracy to others under the muzzles of the mightiest military that has ever rolled under heaven.

[lepton]

From the ruling:

In his closing, counsel for Plaintiff argues that it “does not make sense” that Maricopa County did not know how many ballots Maricopa County had received on election night. But, at Trial, it was not Maricopa County’s burden to establish that its process or procedure was reasonable, or that it had an accurate unofficial count on Election Night.

---

And this twisting:

“The Court next considers Heather Honey, a supply chain auditor and consultant who testified primarily concerning the chain of custody claim. The Court, again, credits Ms. Honey’s observations and personal knowledge of the system of early voting ballots. As relevant to misconduct, her testimony makes two main points: 1) that Maricopa County did not produce (pursuant to a Public Records Act request) Maricopa County Delivery Receipt forms for ballot packets dropped off by voters at drop boxes on Election Day;”

...

“Again, the Court does not doubt Ms. Honey’s veracity, but her testimony is of limited use in making a finding that intentional misconduct occurred. For one thing, Ms. Honey agreed during cross examination that, while she has not received the Maricopa County Delivery Receipt forms –
she knows that these forms do, in fact, exist. While she testified that the public records request has not yet been fulfilled, to the extent there is a claim to be made for insufficient production by Maricopa County in response to a public records request, that claim is not before the Court.
Because Plaintiff’s expert agreed that the forms which are the basis for this claim were generated, Plaintiff cannot point to their absence writ large as a violation of the EPM. “

Is twisted into this:

“Particularly where Plaintiff’s own witness on this point lacks personal knowledge of the intent of the alleged bad actor, admits that Defendants did in fact generate the documents they were required to, and otherwise affirms the County’s compliance with election processes, the Court cannot say that Plaintiff proved element one of Count IV by clear and convincing evidence. “

---

Saying that the County generally created delivery receipts is not at all saying that they created those particular ones, nor that they are accurate, nor that they were created at the proper step where they would actually be demonstrating what they imply. And proving intent is essentially impossible without even having access to the documents.

[lepton]

The ruling itself:

https://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/4531

Impossible burdens.

[Political Junkie Too]

The "reasonable person" inference is that the county intentionally circumvented only the procedures that affected accurate ballot counts in the earliest point of the chain of custody in order to create an "injection" point a few steps down the line, but before the central tally is generated, if needed.

Yesterday's "reasonable person" is today's "conspiracy theorist," yet the fact remains the same: the county cannot establish the tally of ballots that were sent from the polling places, only the tally of ballots received at the central county location.

Reasonable people would ask why this degradation of the legal process was allowed to happen in the first place? Reasonable people would ask why the people in charge of running the elections were so cavalier about following the law?

-PJ

[Oystir]

Pay attention to what is really going on. There are a lot of fake Dr and lawyers on FR. Most even don’t stay at the Holiday Inn Express. Most read crazy news. I said on FR days and days ago that she would lose big time. She doesn’t have a legal case. Trump’s Kraken wasn’t a case either - now 2 years later, it is still unproven. If the judge sanctions her, which I also said was a strong possibility days ago, then you will have an idea as to how weak her case really is. Legal standards have to be met. Spouting off on TV isn’t worth a plugged nickel. If she is sanctioned her political and expected TV career are toast.

[ColoCdn]

You’re kidding, right?
Is this the first time you’ve heard the name Marc Elias? Do you know anything about him?
And you’re somehow linking him to Kari Lake whom he hates with every fiber of his body?

[Oystir]

Marc Elias, no matter how corrupt, did not write Arizona law. The Arizona legislature did. Marc Elia’s feelings towards a candidate are somewhat irrelevant, don’t you think? Let’s see what happens about the sanctions. The lawsuit was NEVER going to be a winner; neither was Kraken. It’s a sideshow. If the judge finds the lawsuit spurious or frivolous, there will be sanctions. Sanctions will be the end of your candidate and her future.