by Mark J. Fitzgibbons
Tens of thousands of Trump voters in Pennsylvania angry they were disenfranchised by voter fraud in Philadelphia and other parts of the state have an option for justice through what is called a “Private Criminal Complaint.”
(This article is not to be construed as legal advice. Some patriotic Pennsylvania lawyers are preparing to assist citizens with this Private Criminal Complaint project, and in the coming days we and other news outlets will provide more information about how they may be assisting.)
Pennsylvania is one of the states that allows citizens to file criminal complaints. A Rule 506 complaint must be submitted to a PA District Attorney, who may reject it. Rejections of Private Criminal Complaints by PA District Attorneys may be appealed to a court, but rarely does an appeal succeed. Therefore, it is important Private Criminal Complaints be submitted correctly.
Also, Pennsylvanians should send a copy of their Private Criminal Complaints to their state representatives and the PA Speaker of the House. More information about that is provided at the end of this article. Rule 504 sets forth the requirements of what must be stated in the Complaint, including:
(1) the name of the affiant;
(2) the name and address of the defendant, or if unknown, a description of the defendant as nearly as may be;
(3) a direct accusation to the best of the affiant’s knowledge, or information and belief, that the defendant violated the penal laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania;
(4) the date when the offense is alleged to have been committed; provided, however:
(a) if the specific date is unknown, or if the offense is a continuing one, it shall be sufficient to state that it was committed on or about any date within the period of limitations; and
(b) if the date or day of the week is an essential element of the offense charged, such date or day must be specifically set forth;
(5) the place where the offense is alleged to have been committed;
(6) (a) in a court case, a summary of the facts sufficient to advise the defendant of the nature of the offense charged, but neither the evidence nor the statute allegedly violated need be cited in the complaint. However, a citation of the statute allegedly violated, by itself, shall not be sufficient for compliance with this subsection; or
(b) in a summary case, a citation of the specific section and subsection of the statute or ordinance allegedly violated, together with a summary of the facts sufficient to advise the defendant of the nature of the offense charged;
(7) a statement that the acts of the defendant were against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or in violation of an ordinance of a political subdivision;
The Private Criminal Complaint form shows the information needed to file. Complaints alleging criminal voter fraud, of course, require high-level evidence of voter fraud just as if the government were suing. In the coming days we expect there will be more publicly available evidence of voter fraud, and conspiracy to commit voter fraud. Keep your eyes here for that information.
Pennsylvania election law criminal violations found at Title 25, § 3527 include interference with elections, frauds, and conspiracy when violators:
shall prepare or present to any election officer a fraudulent voter’s certificate not signed in the polling place
by the elector whose certificate it purports to be; or shall deposit fraudulent ballots in the ballot box; or shall register fraudulent votes upon any voting machine; or shall tamper with any district register, voting check list, numbered lists of voters, ballot box or voting machine; or shall conspire with others to commit any of the offenses herein mentioned, or in any manner to prevent a free and fair primary or election.
These violations of law should constitute grounds for filing a Private Criminal Complaint, and may be “overt acts” for conspiracy to commit voter fraud if there is evidence of two or more people acting in concert to commit these crimes.
Title 18, Section 903 of the Pennsylvania Code covers criminal conspiracy. Venue is proper where there is an “overt act,” which in the context of conspiracy to commit voter fraud would include acts such as destruction of Trump ballots, or falsifying votes for Biden. Merely participating in a call to plan the voter fraud is not enough to be considered an overt act for purposes of criminal conspiracy, but is considered an element of conspiracy when an overt act occurs, which are the acts actually executing the crime.
It is being reported that Hammer and Scorecard (allegedly linked to Dominion software) used in Pennsylvania may have changed 3 percent of the vote. As news develops, that may constitute an overt act for venue purposes.
The PA District Attorneys to whom these Private Criminal Complaints must be submitted work under PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro, and many will be inclined to reject them for political reasons.
You may recall Shapiro Tweeted three days before the election, “Trump is going to lose if every vote is counted.” That is not per se evidence of intent to commit voter fraud, but does seem to qualify as grounds to name him as a defendant. Shapiro’s tweet should disqualify him from influencing these cases.
Besides filing a Private Criminal Complaint to enforce the Pennsylvania voter fraud conspiracy laws, these Complaints may want to include federal charges of criminal conspiracy.
One of the federal crimes found in Title 18 of the U.S. Code is the federal conspiracy against rights statute, found at 18 U.S. Code § 241. It says, in part:
If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same. ***
They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both …
I am told 18 USC § 241 is being used by the Trump legal team in their litigation efforts, but my wise colleague thinks it will be ineffective, perhaps because the statute has been watered down in election matters by the courts, but certainly because the U.S. Justice Department is loaded with Obama lawyers who would ultimately be deciding to bring charges. And they won’t.
This makes the use of Private Criminal Complaint all-the-more important. Pennsylvanians may be able to bypass the Deep State to help save America.
IMPORTANT: Some 46 years ago Justice Thurgood Marshall writing in Anderson v. United States said that the § 241 criminal statute applied in voter fraud cases. The “injury” under § 241 is the dilution of votes. Justice Marshall wrote:
It has long been settled that § 241 embraces a conspiracy to stuff the ballot box at an election for federal officers, and thereby to dilute the value of votes of qualified voters ….
That petitioners may have had no purpose to change the outcome of the federal election is irrelevant. The specific intent required under § 241 is not the intent to change the outcome of a federal election, but rather the intent to have false votes cast and thereby to injure the right of all voters in a federal election to express their choice of a candidate and to have their expressions of choice given full value and effect, without being diluted or distorted by the casting of fraudulent ballots ….
“The deposit of forged ballots in the ballot boxes, no matter how small or great their number, dilutes the influence of honest votes in an election, and whether in greater or less degree is immaterial. The right to an honest [count] is a right possessed by each voting elector, and to the extent that the importance of his vote is nullified, wholly or in part, he has been injured in the free exercise of a right or privilege secured to him by the laws and Constitution of the United States.” (emphasis added)
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s own website admits his office (therefore his District Attorneys) “protects and advances the rights of Pennsylvanians through the enforcement of state and federal civil rights laws.” That, of course, is not “law” that a Private Criminal Complaint may extend to federal crimes, but let him try to justify it does not.
Now, the Private Criminal Complaint rule says nothing about venue of where these complaints may be filed. The general rule about venue for criminal complaints is that they be filed in the venue where the crime was committed. Most of the voter fraud occurred in big-city Blue areas, and the District Attorneys in those areas will almost certainly decline to move forward with Private Criminal Complaints.
Here is where citizens, like private lawyers would need to “earn their money,” would argue the venue of a Private Criminal Complaint for voter fraud should be where the victim resides, because like victims of cybercrimes, the crime is where the injury occurred. The voter fraud taking place in Philadelphia or other venues such as Luzerne County had the effect of criminally disenfranchising Trump voters elsewhere.
Following Justice Thurgood Marshall’s reasoning in Anderson v. United States, the voter fraud need not be “widespread” to have had criminal effect on the right of your vote to count in a Presidential election. Especially if there is credible evidence of fraud cause by voting machines, restrictive criminal venue under normal standards just further disenfranchises our rights.
Also, as facts become publicly known, whether through the Trump legal team, or Project Veritas and other whistleblower outlets, this information may show voter fraud occurred in your voting district, making venue an easier issue to address.
If thousands or tens of thousands of Private Criminal Complaints are filed, even the most establishment-protecting judges will have a harder time dismissing them. Plus, these issues could end up in the package of cases heading to the Supreme Court.
Expect this strategy to be widely criticized, of course, but don’t let that deter you. President Trump fought for us like no elected official ever has, and we owe him, America, and our families a duty to do whatever we can to protect our vote. Voter fraud in this past election need not be “widespread” to make it the most consequential criminal conspiracy in American history, with no close second.
Send copies of your Private Criminal Complaint to the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives:
Hon. Bryan Cutler
139 Main Capitol Building
PO Box 202100
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2100
And send a copy to your state representative, whom you may find here.
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Mark J. Fitzgibbons is an attorney and senior contributor to ConservativeHQ.
