GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk who became the first election official to be charged with a security breach amid lies that the 2020 election had been stolen from then-President Donald Trump, was sentenced Thursday to nine years behind bars.
Colorado District Judge Matthew Barrett handed down the sentence Thursday after a jury found Tina Peters guilty of most charges against her in August.
Describing her as a "charlatan" who was still using her prior position in office "to peddle a snake oil that's been proven to be junk time and time again," Judge Barrett sentenced Peters to 8 and-a-half years in the Colorado Department of Corrections plus 120 days in Mesa County Jail, followed by 3 years of parole.
In handing down the sentence, Judge Barrett argued it was the position she held as county clerk — "the pulpit from which she can preach these lies... the undermining of our democratic process, the undermining of the belief and confidence in our elections systems" — that made her such a danger to the community.
"Your lies are well documented and these convictions are serious," he said, after Peters made her final plea in court. "I'm convinced you would do it all over again if you could."
Politics
'You're a charlatan': Judge sentences defiant Tina Peters to 9 years | Video
Peters was convicted of first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty, failure to comply with requirements of the Secretary of State, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, and three counts of attempt to influence a public servant.
She was acquitted of the charges of identity theft, criminal impersonation, and one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation.
Peters, who was indicted in March 2022, was accused of copying hard drive images of election software in 2021, which ended up online and being discussed by Peters and others at conspiracy theorist and pillow salesman Mike Lindell’s South Dakota symposium
Peters used someone else’s security badge to give an expert affiliated with the My Pillow chief executive access to the system. During the trial, the prosecution argued that Peters deceived government employees so she could work with Lindell to become famous.
During her trial, prosecutors said she became “fixated” on voting problems after becoming involved with those questioning the accuracy of the 2020 presidential election results.
The defense argued that Peters had not committed any crimes and only wanted to preserve election records after the county would not let her have its technology experts present for a software update.
State
Colorado county clerk Tina Peters didn't want to preserve data, lawyer says
Peters, who remained unapologetic about what happened until the very end, insisted in court Thursday that everything she did to try to reveal what she believed was fraud was for the greater good
“I’ve never done anything with malice to break the law. I’ve only wanted to serve the people of Mesa County,” she told the court.
When Peters tried to press on with claims no legal authority has corroborated about “wireless devices” and software that changed ballot images in voting machines she drew the judge’s exasperation, who pointed out that ballot recounts showed no discrepancies.
“I’ve let you go on enough about this. The votes are the votes. It's just more lies," Judge Barrett said. "No objective person believes them. No, at the end of the day, you cared about the jets, the podcasts and people flying with you. You abdicated your position as a servant to the Constitution and you chose you over all else. You cannot help but lie as easy as it is for you to breathe."
In a statement, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said her sentencing was a warning to others that tampering with Colorado's voting processes or election systems will bring consequences.
Matt Crane, the executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, said in a statement Thursday clerks and election workers across the country had to answer for Peters crimes ever since allegations that she broke the law came to light.
"Today, our justice system spoke and now Tina will finally suffer the consequences of her actions. For those of us who believe that free, fair, secure and accurate elections are the foundation of our democracy — and work every day to make our elections live up to that high standard — today is a good day," Crane said. "Now the hard work of rebuilding trust begins."
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold told Denver7 Peters' sentencing sends a message that "hopefully will deter other people who try to abuse their position to spread Donald Trump's Big Lie."
She warned, however, that even though "the Tina Peters case is over, the threat to our democracy is not."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.