CNN —
A judge accused a Colorado county official of crimes and lies, sentencing her to nine years in prison Thursday for a data leak scheme born of rampant false claims about voting machine fraud in the 2020 presidential election. did.
District Judge Matthew Barrett told former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters that she would never do her job after previously sparring with her for continuing to make false claims about fraudulent voting machines. He said he didn’t take it seriously.
“I’m sure you would do it all over again if you could. You are as defiant as any defendant this court has ever seen,” Barrett told her as he handed down the sentence. “You are not a hero. You are a charlatan who abused his position.”
Jurors found Peters guilty in August of allowing someone to access the Mesa County election system by misusing a security card and assuming the identity of another person.
The man had ties to MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were rigged to steal the election from former President Donald Trump.
Prosecutors said at trial that Peters, a Republican, became “obsessed” with voting issues as he sought fame and engaged with people who questioned the accuracy of the presidential election results.
Peters, once a hero to election deniers, has shown no remorse for what happened.
Before her sentencing, Peters maintained that everything she did to root out what she believed to be fraud was for the greater good.
“I never maliciously broke any laws. I just wanted to serve the people of Mesa County,” she told the court.
Peters drew the judge’s ire because he tried to continue making unsupported claims by legal authorities about “wireless devices” and software that alter the images of ballots on voting machines. The judge noted that a recount of the ballots showed no discrepancies.
“I’ve said enough about this,” Barrett said. “A vote is a vote.”
The judge then noted that Peters had continued to appear in public in broadcasts to sympathetic viewers for his own benefit.
“That’s just another lie. No objective person would believe them. After all, you were concerned about the jet, the podcast, and the people you were flying with.” Barrett said.
Peters had every right to be defiant, but that “obviously didn’t help her today,” he said.
The breach led by Peters raised concerns that corrupt election officials aligned with partisan lies could use their access and knowledge to attack the voting process from within.
Mr. Peters was found guilty of three counts of attempting to influence a public official, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, breach of duty, and failure to act as Secretary of State.
She was acquitted of one count of conspiracy to commit identity theft and one count of criminal identity theft.
In posts to X after his conviction, Peters accused Colorado-based Dominion Voting Systems, which developed the county’s election system, and attorneys for the state election official of stealing votes.
“I will continue to fight until the truth that was not allowed to come out in this trial is revealed. This is a sad day for our country and the world, but we will prevail in the end,” she said. said.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said Peters’ conviction is a warning that tampering with the voting process has consequences.
