Fifteen so-called fake electors in Michigan will not face a criminal trial over their alleged involvement in efforts to overturn former President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win in the state, the judge announced Tuesday.

“These cases will not be bound over to the circuit court,” state District Court Judge Kristen D. Simmons said. “Each case will be dismissed.”

Simmons said the Michigan Republicans involved in the effort were trying to seek redress after President Donald Trump’s loss and attempted to perform their civic duties.

“The prosecution would like the court to believe that these named defendants were savvy or sophisticated enough to understand fully the electoral process, which the court does disagree because the document that was presented doesn’t even align with the level of sophistication that they want me to believe,” she said before she announced her decision.

“This alternate document doesn’t state it’s an official document of the state of Michigan,” she continued, noting that the defendants did not try to forge the governor’s signature or create a fake seal.

The decision is the latest in a yearslong legal saga over the alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, which culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. It also marks another failed effort by state and federal authorities to hold people involved legally accountable, from the federal charges against Trump that were dropped after he won the 2024 election to the pardons he issued for convicted rioters on his first day back in office.

At a news briefing after the judge’s decision, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel called the ruling “disappointing” and said her office would determine at a “later time” whether she would appeal.

“The evidence was clear: They lied. They knew they lied, and they tried to steal the votes of millions of Michiganders,” Nessel said of the defendants. “And if they can get away with this, well, what can they get away with next?”

“This was, in my belief, a coordinated attempt to overturn the will of the American people and reinstate Donald Trump as president, despite Joe Biden’s victory in the election to that office,” she added.

Nessel also referred to judges’ “fear of retaliation and the ongoing intimidation of threats” in her opening remarks.

Asked by a reporter to clarify whether she believed Simmons was worried about retaliation in this case, Nessel said she believed “it’s likely that in some circumstances, there are judges out there that think about the threats they’ve received,” as well as Trump’s power, then decide not to challenge Trump or his supporters. She did not clarify whether she believed that sentiment applied to Simmons’ decision.

Reached for comment, attorneys for the defendants praised Simmons’ decision. Derek S. Wilczynski, who represented Stanley Grot, said that “it was heartening to see that the court understood what Mr. Grot has maintained since the day he was charged — he did not do anything wrong.”

Kevin Kijewski, who represented Clifford Frost Jr. and is running to be Michigan’s next attorney general, said Simmons’ decision “dismantles AG Dana Nessel’s baseless case and lays bare her long-standing political motivations.”

David Kallman, who represented Hank Choate, said the case was “a political prosecution from the start,” while George MacAvoy-Brown, who represented Mari-Ann Henry, said she “is innocent and never intended to cheat or defraud anyone.”

Wright W. Blake, the lawyer for Mayra Rodriguez, called the judge “very methodical” and “point on,” and Paul J. Stablein, who represented Amy Facchinello, said his client was “grateful to have this nightmare behind her.”

Trump repeatedly falsely claimed that he won the 2020 election; after Biden was declared the winner, so-called fake electors in several states tried to declare that Trump had won, according to prosecutors.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Simmons made a distinction between cases alleging election interference and cases alleging fraud.

“This is a fraud case, and we have to prove intent, and I don’t believe that there’s evidence sufficient to prove intent,” she said.

She said she believed there was not enough evidence to establish that the defendants were trained, understood their duties and knew how the electoral system worked. Separately, Simmons asserted that the defendants “sincerely” believed that the election had “serious irregularities.”

“This is not for the court to decide whether that was true or false, but this was their belief, and their actions were prompted by this belief,” she said.

Michigan was the first state to charge fake electors. In 2023, Nessel filed charges against 16 people whom she accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election by signing paperwork falsely claiming that Trump had won. Charges against one of the defendants were later dropped after he agreed to “cooperate fully” with the investigation.

All of the defendants initially pleaded not guilty in 2023. Each was charged with eight felonies.

Nessel accused the defendants of having “met covertly in the basement of the Michigan Republican Party headquarters,” where they “signed their names to multiple certificates stating they were the ‘duly elected and qualified electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America for the State of Michigan.’”

“These false documents were then transmitted to the United States Senate and National Archives in a coordinated effort to award the state’s electoral votes to the candidate of their choosing, in place of the candidates actually elected by the people of Michigan,” Nessel’s office said in the 2023 news release announcing the charges.

Megan Lebowitz

Megan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.