Attorney Jenna Ellis speaks during a press conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, DC, in a file photo dated Nov. 19, 2020. (Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via /Keynote USA/Getty Images)
Jenna Ellis, a Colorado native and former attorney for then-President Donald Trump in 2020, will not be allowed to practice law in Colorado for at least three years under a deal approved Tuesday by the Colorado Supreme Court.
Ellis, who is from Longmont, had faced the possibility of outright disbarment after pleading guilty in October to a felony in Georgia related to efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss there. Daysha Young, a prosecutor in that case, told the court that Ellis had “aided and abetted” two of Trump’s lawyers when they falsely told Georgia state senators that tens of thousands of illegal votes were cast in the state.
Colorado’s governing body of lawyers had previously censured Ellis after she admitted to making repeated false statements about the 2020 presidential election.
In the agreement, attorneys for Ellis and the state of Colorado acknowledged that “while disbarment is the presumptive sanction for (Ellis’) misconduct, it is significant that his criminal culpability arose from his conduct as an accomplice, not a principal.” ”. That, combined with her letter of repentance, may have saved her from total disqualification.
In his letter, Ellis wrote that he “turned a blind eye” to the possibility that high-level Trump campaign lawyers could be sharing false information as part of a “cynical ‘Stop the Steal’ campaign.”
“By (accepting the suspension), I hope to encourage others who still believe the election was ‘stolen’ to consider changing their position,” Ellis wrote. “Everything that has come to light since then has not proven that claim.”
John Michael Richilano, Ellis’ attorney, told The Denver Post that “unlike others in Trump’s orbit, she stepped forward, took responsibility and told the truth.”
“He did so at considerable personal cost,” he added, “having received threatening emails, text messages and tweets, also of an obscene nature. …She gratefully accepted the suspension of her license understanding her role and realizing, after the fact, that many falsehoods were being told on behalf of the former president.”
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