The trickle is becoming, if not a flood, then a river, as the lawyer Kenneth Chesebro joins his fellow attorney Sidney Powell in coming to a cooperation agreement with the district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis.

Even as guilty pleas — and associated cooperation agreements — mount, so do questions as to why she’s letting them off with no, or reduced, time. Is it a mark of strength or do the pacts testify to a flimsiness in her sprawling racketeering case or its flimsiness.   

Chesebro and Ms. Powell, two  of Ms. Willis’s original 19 racketeering defendants, were slated to be tried together on Monday. When news came of Mr. Chesebro’s guilty plea, the Fulton County courtroom was packed with potential jurors.

Those will all be sent home, as Chesebro, like Ms. Powell and another defendant, Scott Hall, before him, has agreed to “truthfully testify” whenever Ms. Willis’s requests and to continue to provide documents and evidence to prosecutors. The charges against Chesebro stemmed from his no confessed involvement in a scheme to impanel alternate electors pledged to President Trump. 

Unlike Ms. Powell, who pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors, Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony. As part of his deal, he admitted to the crime of conspiracy to commit filing false documents, a charge that is also faced by Mr. Trump, Mayor Giuliani, and another attorney, John Eastman. It is possible that Ms. Willis has those bigger fish in mind with this deal.   

A graduate of Harvard Law School who was once a protege of the liberal lion Laurence Tribe, Chesebro appears to be avoiding jail time. Prosecutors are recommending five years of probation, a $5,000 restitution payment, and 100 hours of community service. He has already written a letter of apology to the citizens of Georgia.

The arrangement was transacted under Georgia’s First Offender Act, which ordains that where a defendant has not been previously convicted of a felony, the court may, “upon a verdict or plea of guilty,” defer “future proceedings and place the defendant on probation.” It serves as an alternative to a conviction.  

At Chesebro’s plea hearing, prosecutors alleged that “in coordination with” the Trump campaign, the lawyer “created and distributed false Electoral College documents” and “provided detailed instructions to co-conspirators in Georgia and other states for creating and distributing these false documents.”

Chesebro, who was known at Harvard Law School as “the Cheese” on account of his Wisconsin origins, is mentioned 13 times in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s January 6 indictment, where he is referred to as “Co Conspirator 5.” His former professor, Mr. Tribe, tells the Guardian that Chesebro is “smart enough to know full well that the scheme he helped to cook up” was “manifestly criminal.” 

Whether the deal Ms. Willis struck with Chesebro is a good bet for the prosecutor is yet to be seen. So far, her racketeering case features no racketeering guilty pleas, and no jail time for Chesebro and Ms. Powell, two of the alleged legal masterminds behind the effort to overturn the 2020 election. She does, however, now have these cooperating witnesses to help bolster her case against Mr. Trump. 

Another advantage for Ms. Willis could be that she will not have to show her hand with respect to prosecutorial strategy. The now-mooted early trial date for Chesebro and Ms. Powell would have forced the district attorney to lay out her case months before Mr. Trump and the other defendants came to court.

Now, those plans will remain secret until a contested trial begins. In the interim, there are 16 defendants still on the docket, and it appears as if Ms. Willis’s office is open for business.