Tina Peters, Mesa County Clerk and Colorado Republican candidate for Secretary of State, reacts to early election results at a primary night watch party at the Wide Open Salon on June 28, 2022 in Sedalia, Colorado.
Mark Piscotti | getty images
Tina Peters, a former Colorado Republican secretary who espoused the false conspiracy theory that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election due to voting fraud, was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison for crimes related to violations of her county’s voting system.
State District Judge Matthew Barrett told Peters, “You are not a hero.” “You are a fraud who used and is still using your former position to sell snake oil that has proven time and time again to be junk oil.”
“Your lies are well-documented and these convictions are serious. I’m sure you would do it again if you could,” said Barrett, a 68-year-old former Mesa County clerk accused of using someone else’s. said to Provide your security badge to others so they can access your county’s election system.
The person using the badge was associated with Mike Lindell, CEO of My Pillow and a leading advocate of the claim that Trump’s loss for a second term was due to voting fraud.
“You are the most defiant defendant this court has ever seen,” Barrett told Peters.
Peters, who had requested probation, told the judge before sentencing, “I have never done anything with malice to break the law. I just wanted to serve the people of Mesa County.”
Former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk Tina Peters listens during her trial Friday, March 3, 2023, in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Scott Crabtree | AP
“Mr. Peters has repeatedly shown that he believes he has done nothing wrong,” Mesa County District Attorney Daniel Rubenstein told Barrett.
“She submitted an affidavit to the court in her pre-sentence investigation report providing excuses and justifications, but she has never once acknowledged that she did something wrong or that this is not the way to handle this,” Rubenstein said.
“What does every 12-step program begin with? It starts with acknowledging that you have a problem. She didn’t do it, and there is no purpose in rehabilitation for someone who doesn’t believe they did anything wrong.”
Peters was immediately taken into custody after Barrett rejected her attorney’s request to release her.
Peters was found guilty by a trial jury in August of seven criminal counts, including attempting to influence a public official, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, breach of duty and failing to comply with the requirements of the Secretary of State.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Saginaw Valley State University’s Ryder Health and Physical Education Center on October 3, 2024 in Saginaw, Michigan.
Jim Watson | AFP | getty images
Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado Association of County Clerks, told Barrett before sentencing that Peters’ false claims “in a real and concrete way… led directly to death threats and general threats to the lives and families of the people who work there.” “I lost,” he said. “Our election.”
“She was willing to help individuals in our country who believed that violence was the way to make a point,” Crane said. “She intentionally ignited a fire inside others who used threats as leverage.”
Shortly after Peters was sentenced, Republican presidential candidate Trump told attendees at a campaign rally in Michigan that “we won, we won, we won” the 2020 election.
President Trump said, “This was a rigged election.”
“That’s why I’m doing it again. I wouldn’t do it again if I thought I lost,” said Trump, who is running against Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential primary.
Trump is facing criminal charges in federal court in Washington, D.C., and state court in Atlanta on charges of attempting to invalidate President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
