GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KDVR) — Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was sentenced to a total of nine years behind bars for her role in an election security breach back in 2021.
The judge made it clear presiding over her sentencing, he wanted this sentencing to be an example of what happens when people in trusted positions tamper with elections. As a result, Tina Peters is set to do some hard time.
"Your lies are well documented and these convictions are serious," 21st Judicial District Judge Matthew Barrett said just before reading Peters her sentencing.
Barrett sentenced Peters to eight and a half years in prison and half a year in jail Thursday.
The sentencing comes after jurors in August found her guilty of allowing a man with unauthorized access into Mesa County's secured election system. The judge made it clear Thursday that he wanted the sentencing to serve as a deterrent for comparable behavior in the future.
"Our system of government can't function when people in government think that somehow, some way, power they have been given in absolute in all respects. And that's where you fell," Barrett said.
Before the judge handed down the sentence, Peters pleaded with the judge for probation instead of prison.
"I'm not a criminal and I don't deserve to go into a prison where other people have committed heinous crimes," Peters told the judge. "I hope that you'll find it in your heart to not sentence me. I haven't cried in front of these people because I don't want them to get the impression that they are getting to me. But I don't deserve to be in prison. I can do a lot more good out, helping people."
"At the end of the day, you cared about the Jets, the podcasts and the people fawning over you. You abdacted your position to serve it to the Constitution and you chose you over all else. Yes, you are a charlatan and you cannot help but lie as easy as it for you to breathe," Barrett told Peters.
Leaders in Colorado reacted to the sentencing on Thursday. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said justice was served.
"It's important that when people break the law and breach the public's trust, especially in elected office and as an elections official that they face accountability. With that said, this was the nation's first public insider threat. My office swiftly took action but then we took a series of steps afterwards to tighten up our laws. It's now a straight felony in Colorado to compromise voting equipment, we put into the law protection of whistleblowers, we made it illegal to have guns close to the polling locations, we made it a crime to dox or threaten an election official," Griswold told FOX31.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement:
“I am grateful for Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein’s commitment to justice and his collaboration with my office to hold Tina Peters accountable. Today’s sentencing is a warning to others that they will face consequences if they attempt to illegally tamper with our voting processes or election systems. My office will continue to protect our elections and the freedom to vote."
Judge Barrett told Peters her sentence would likely be shortened if she exhibited good behavior during her stay in prison and there was an option to appeal the sentence.
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