Attorney For Pro-Trump Memester Facing 10 Years For Election Interference Responds To Guilty Verdict

Attorney Andrew J. Frisch promised to appeal a guilty verdict handed down Friday to his client, pro-Trump meme-creator Douglass Mackey. 

A Brooklyn jury found Mackey guilty of interfering in the 2016 presidential election, convicting him on one count of “Conspiracy Against Rights.” Mackey, who operated on Twitter under the pseudonym “Ricky Vaughn,” is facing ten years behind bars over the social media posts.

“This case presents an unusual array of appellate issues that are exceptionally strong,” Frisch told reporters following the verdict. “This was the first chapter of the litigation of this case. We would have preferred to win, but I am confident about the way forward.”

“The appellate court will have its choice of which issue on which to vacate the conviction,” the attorney added, according to a Twitter account linked to Mackey. “It may choose to do so on first amendment grounds, or on the government’s suppression of exculpatory information, or on the insufficiency of evidence of venue among other issues. We are optimistic about our chances on appeal.”

“It may choose to do so on first amendment grounds, or on the government’s suppression of exculpatory information, or on the insufficiency of evidence of venue among other issues. We are optimistic about our chances on appeal.” 2/2

— Douglass Mackey (@DougMackeyCase) March 31, 2023

The jury deliberated for about 35 hours over the course of five days before rendering the guilty verdict. Notably, the jury sent notes back to Judge Ann Donnelly on Tuesday and Wednesday saying that they were split and could not come to a decision. Judge Donnelly, though, ordered the jury to reconvene and continue deliberations through what’s called an Allen charge. The charge is controversial, with some arguing that it puts pressure on jurors in the minority opinion to change their tune. 

Mackey himself reportedly gave no reaction when the guilty verdict was read in court, but his father, also in the courtroom, let out a heavy sigh.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said the “verdict proves that the defendant’s fraudulent actions crossed a line into criminality and flatly rejects his cynical attempt to use the constitutional right of free speech as a shield for his scheme to subvert the ballot box and suppress the vote.” 

“Today’s verdict proves that the defendant’s fraudulent actions crossed a line into criminality and flatly rejects his cynical attempt to use the constitutional right of free speech as a shield for his scheme to subvert the ballot box and suppress the vote.” – U.S. Attorney Peace

— US Attorney EDNY (@EDNYnews) March 31, 2023

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it was charging Mackey with election interference just one week after President Joe Biden took office in 2021. Some legal experts quickly expressed concern that the DOJ could be overstepping for political reasons and infringing on Americans’ free speech rights. 

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Columnist and former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Andy McCarthy called it a “three-fer” — “the prosecutorial creation of a crime Congress has not prescribed, the trivialization of civil-rights law, and the intrusion of government as a monitor of political speech.”

Related: Biden DOJ Trying To Lock Up A Pro-Trump Meme Maker For Ten Years. Here’s What You Need To Know.