BERRIEN COUNTY, Mich. - A Berrien County judge set the trial date for Reverend Edward Pinkney who faces election fraud charges. Pinkney's jury trial will begin July 21.



"Who would believe that they would send somebody to trial which is probably going to cost me $30,000 to $40,000 to defend myself when there was no evidence at all," said Reverend Edward Pinkney.



Pinkney and his attorney went before Berrien County Judge Sterling Schrock Thursday.



Judge Schrock set a trial date of July 21.



We talked with Pinkney after his court appearance,



"I'm prepared mentally to take this thing to a whole different level," said Pinkney.



Pinkney is accused of changing dates on a few signatures on the petition to recall Mayor James Hightower.



Judge Schrock says an expert determined that the person who wrote the original information and the person who changed the information are different people.



Schrock says that because the petitions were in Pinkney's possession there's enough evidence to charge Pinkney with making those changes.



Pinkney says there's no way that's the case.



"He assumed because I had it, it had to be me, but close to 10 to 15 other people were in possession of those petitions. He has no evidence at all. If you assume something you have to have facts to back it up and he had no facts," said Pinkney.