Tina Peters to be sentenced Thursday

MESA COUNTY, Colo. — On Thursday, former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters will learn whether or not she is going to prison after being convicted of several felony charges in an election computer breach case.

Peters has said she’s innocent, a claim she’s repeated even after a jury convicted her of seven out of 10 charges in August. She has shown off her ankle monitor on her podcast. 

The jury found Peters guilty on the following charges:

• Three counts of attempt to influence a public servant
• One count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation
• One count of official misconduct
• One count of violation of duty
• One count of failure to comply with secretary of state requirements

Peters faces up to roughly 20 years in prison, but that does not mean she will spend any time there.

Prosecutors said she granted conspiracy theorists illegal access to voting systems in Mesa County as she searched for proof of voter fraud. Peters has falsely claimed that Denver-based Dominion voting systems rigged the election against former President Donald Trump. 

Trump allies like MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell, one of the nation’s most prominent election conspiracy theorists, have helped fund her legal defense. Online, Peters has claimed her conviction is part of a conspiracy to cover up election rigging.

9NEWS legal expert Scott Robinson noted there is no minimum mandatory sentence in Peters’ case. While some of the felony charges she’s been convicted of carry the potential for her to serve more than a decade in prison, the judge could also impose a far more lenient sentence. 

The judge could impose anything from straight probation to probation with a county jail sentence as a condition of probation to a felony conviction prison term. 

Sentencing is scheduled to start Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in Mesa County.