This story by William Oster appeared on Colorado Newsline on April 10, 2023.
Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was sentenced to four months home detention with an ankle monitor Monday in a misdemeanor obstruction case.
Peters initially faced up to six months in jail after her March conviction for obstructing government operations. Mesa County Court Judge Bruce R. Raaum also gave Peters 120 hours of community service and a $750 fine, according to the Mesa County public affairs manager. The Daily Sentinel reported the sentence was stayed pending an appeal.
Peters was detained in February 2022 at a cafe where officers showed up with a warrant to seize Peters’ iPad. Peters initially resisted and attempted to strike an officer, according to police. Authorities said they seized the iPad to determine whether Peters had recorded portions of court proceedings a day earlier after the judge had already reminded Peters that such recording was prohibited.
The charges in the misdemeanor obstruction case are separate from criminal charges Peters faces related to allegations that she helped breach secure equipment in her own elections office in 2021 in an attempt to find evidence that Colorado’s voting system was rigged. Peters faces seven felony charges and three misdemeanor charges in that case, in which she pleaded not guilty.
Peters, an election conspiracy theorist who denies the results of the 2020 presidential election and the results in her own primary election last year for secretary of state, also ran for the state GOP chair in March but lost after throwing her support behind former state Rep. Dave Williams, who will lead the Colorado Republicans for the next two years.
Peters is scheduled to go to trial in August in the Mesa County election security breach case.