Tina Peters, former clerk for Colorado’s Mesa County, has been sentenced to nine years in prison for leading a security breach to tamper with the 2020 election under false and unproven suspicions of voter fraud.
In August of this year, a jury found Peters guilty for giving an associate’s security badge to a man affiliated with MyPillow CEO and founder Mike Lindell, granting them access to the Mesa County election system. Lindell has promoted unfounded conspiracy theories related to the 2020 election, claiming it had been stolen and that voting machines were manipulated to sink the reelection of former President Donald Trump.
“Prosecutors said Peters was seeking fame and became ‘fixated’ on voting problems after becoming involved with those who had questioned the accuracy of the 2020 presidential election results,” reported the Associated Press (AP) in August.
“The breach Peters was charged of orchestrating heightened concerns over potential insider threats, in which rogue election workers sympathetic to partisan lies could use their access and knowledge to launch an attack from within,” it added.
Peters had been convicted on three counts of “attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.”
During his sentencing of Tina Peters to nine years in prison on Thursday, District Judge Matthews Barrett said that Peters perpetuated “well documented” lies, referring to her as one of the most defiant defendants “this Court has ever seen,” adding that her damage to election integrity was “immeasurable.”
“There are many things in my mind that are crystal clear about this case, you are no hero,” Barrett said. “You abused your position, and you’re a charlatan who used and is still using your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that’s been proven to be junk, time and time again.”
Peters asked the judge for probation, asserting that she “never did anything with malice,” calling herself “remorseful.”
“I’m not a criminal and I don’t deserve to go into a prison where other people have committed heinous crimes,” Peters said.
According to ABC News, Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, said that Peters’ actions led to death threats against election officials in Colorado.
“We’ve seen long time clerks choose retirement due to the flames that Tina has willfully fanned,” Crane said. “These people have had their jobs made immeasurably harder by what Tina Peters did and her ongoing efforts to fuel the machine that continues to spread lies and disinformation.”
“But most importantly, her actions have contributed to millions of Americans developing a distrust in their election for no reason,” he added.
