ATLANTA, Aug 25 (Reuters) - One of Donald Trump's co-defendants in a wide-ranging election-fraud case in Georgia remained behind bars on Friday, after he told a judge that he could not afford a private attorney to represent him and was denied bond.
Harrison Floyd said at his first court appearance that he could not afford a private lawyer and had been denied representation by a public defender because he did not qualify.
Floyd, who appeared virtually, said that it typically cost between $40,000 to $100,000 just to retain a private lawyer to fly to Georgia.
"I cannot afford an attorney for something like this," he said, telling Fulton County Superior Court Judge Emily Richardson that he did not want to put his family in debt.
Richardson told Floyd that he could either hire a lawyer or represent himself.
It was not immediately clear why Floyd was told he could not be represented by a public defender. Generally, defendants must meet certain financial requirements to qualify.
For now, Floyd will remain in Fulton County Jail, which is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice for violence and unsanitary conditions, as well as 15 inmate deaths last year. One of those was a man whose family says in a lawsuit was "eaten alive" by bedbugs.
Floyd had maintained that he was not a flight risk, but he was told that the issue of the bond would ultimately be decided by Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the case.
Trump and the 17 others charged in the case have already reported to jail and posted bond.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has charged Trump with 13 felony counts including racketeering for pressuring state officials to reverse his 2020 election loss and setting up an illegitimate slate of electors to undermine the formal congressional certification of Democratic President Joe Biden's victory.
Floyd, a former U.S. Marine and mixed martial arts fighter, is accused of participating in a scheme to pressure an election worker to falsely admit to voting fraud.
In a separate case, Floyd was arrested in Maryland in May and charged with assaulting FBI agents who tried to serve him with a subpoena, court records show.
All 18 other defendants in the case have been released after posting bond, records show. Bail amounts range from $200,000 for Trump to $150,000 for former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani to $10,000 for Misty Hampton, a former election supervisor in a rural Georgia county who is accused of tampering with voting equipment.
One of those defendants, attorney Sidney Powell, asked the court on Friday for her trial to begin by Nov. 3 at the latest, as is allowed under Georgia law.
District Attorney Willis had originally proposed a March 4 trial date for all 19 defendants, including Trump. But McAfee has agreed to a separate Oct. 23 trial for lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who like Powell had asked for an earlier date.
Trump's legal team has not yet proposed a trial date.
