DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — Former President Donald Trump is still the front runner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential race, despite legal trouble.

Trump is facing more than a dozen charges, accused to trying to illegally over-turn election results in Georgia. This is the fourth in a string of indictments against the former president.

“These aren’t the kind of situations where he can just not show up,” Cedarville University’s Director of Political Studies, Dr. Mark Caleb Smith, said. “These are criminal trials. These aren’t civil trials, so he’s going to have to be present when these things occur.”

However, Dr. Smith added that the extra publicity due to all these cases could help Trump in the presidential race.

“He may not really have to run all that much because he’s going to be in the news,” Dr. Smith said. “He’ll be constantly in the headlines. He’ll be the first story of the day every day that we wake up during any of these trials.”

He said this is something that has never been seen before in United States history, so what comes next is a mystery.

“In theory, he could be convicted even and still serve as President of the United States,” Dr. Smith said. “This is all just we’ve never experienced anything like it before, and so even though we have a sense of what could happen, we really have no idea what’s going to happen for sure.”

Dr. Smith said the earliest a trial could take place is at the start of winter but emphasized a trial would not disqualify Trump from running for president.