Tina Peters sentenced to 9 years in prison over false 2020 US election fraud claims

Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk and vocal advocate of the conspiracy theory that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election due to widespread ballot fraud, was sentenced to nine years in prison on Thursday. 

Peters, 68, was convicted in August of multiple charges, including attempt to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty, and failure to comply with state election requirements.

US Judge Matthew Barrett delivered a stern rebuke to Peters during sentencing, telling her, “You are no hero. You’re a charlatan who used your office to peddle snake oil that’s been repeatedly proven false.” He added, “Your lies are well documented, and I’m convinced you’d do it all over again if you could.”

Peters was immediately taken into custody after the judge denied her lawyer’s request for probation. Prosecutors had sought the maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars, but Peters was ultimately sentenced to nine.

The charges stemmed from Peters' role in a breach of her county’s voting system. She was accused of using another person’s security badge to allow unauthorized access to Mesa County’s election system.

The individual who used the badge was reportedly connected to Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow and a leading supporter of claims that Trump’s 2020 loss was due to ballot fraud.

Peters had also falsely accused Dominion Voting Systems, the company behind Mesa County’s election equipment, of participating in a scheme to rig the election against Trump.

Barrett called Peters “as defiant a defendant as this court has ever seen,” emphasizing the gravity of her convictions and the potential threat to the integrity of the electoral system posed by her actions.