A former county clerk in Colorado was sentenced to nine years in prison Thursday after being convicted of participating in a scheme to breach voting machines in a bid to prove false claims that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election. File Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 3 (UPI) — Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado who was found guilty in connection with an election security breach at her office in 2021, drew a nine-year prison sentence during a court appearance Thursday.
The sentencing of the one-time Mesa County, Colo., clerk came less than two months after she was convicted on charges of attempting to influence a public official, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failure to comply with Colorado Secretary of State requirements.
Prosecutors said Peters wrongly allowed her security card to be used by an unauthorized person to make copies of voting machine hard drives that included classified information in an attempt by conspiracy theorists affiliated with My Pillow chief executive Mike Lindell to prove their false claims that Donald Trump actually won the 2020 presidential election.
Judge Matthew Barrett handed down the sentence in a Denver courtroom after Peters continued to maintain her innocence in a pre-sentencing statement.
“Your lies are well documented, and these convictions are serious,” he said. “I’m convinced you would do it all over again if you could. You’re as defiant as a defendant as this court has ever seen.”
As she had during her trial, Peters, a Republican, claimed she acted on behalf of voters and voiced conspiracy theories about fraud software and “wireless devices” in voting machines despite recounts showing no ballot irregularities in Mesa County.
“You are no hero,” Barrett responded. “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.”
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold praised the sentencing.
“Tina Peters was just sentenced to 9 years of incarceration after compromising her own voting equipment trying to prove Trump’s Big Lie,” she said in a social media statement. “Colorado will not allow anyone to threaten our elections.”
