Republican Tina Peters of Colorado was sentenced to nine years for her role in voter interference data-breach scheme<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s justice department said it will review the Colorado<\/a> conviction of former election clerk Tina Peters, who received a nine-year prison sentence<\/a> for her role in a voting system data-breach scheme as part of an unsuccessful quest to find voter fraud in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yaakov Roth, an acting assistant attorney general, wrote in a court filing<\/a> on Monday that the Department of Justice was \u201creviewing cases across the nation for abuses of the criminal justice process\u201d, including Peters\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis review will include an evaluation of the state of Colorado\u2019s prosecution of Ms Peters and, in particular, whether the case was \u2018oriented more toward inflicting political pain than toward pursuing actual justice or legitimate governmental objectives\u2019,\u201d Roth wrote, echoing the language in a Trump executive order<\/a> on \u201cEnding the Weaponization of the Federal Government\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peters, then the clerk of Mesa county, allowed a man affiliated with the pillow salesman and election denier Mike Lindell to misuse a security card to access the Mesa county election system. Lindell posted about the DoJ\u2019s statement on his fundraising website, telling donors their assistance had \u201ccontributed to positive developments at the Department of Justice that give us hope that the wheels are in motion for the early release of Tina Peters\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jurors found Peters guilty<\/a> in August, convicting her on seven counts related to misconduct, conspiracy and impersonation, four of which were felony charges. Judge Matthew Barrett sentenced her in October to nine years in prison, calling Peters \u201cas defiant as a defendant that the court has ever seen\u201d and said he believed Peters would do it all over again if she could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peters had argued for probation and is appealing against her conviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DoJ\u2019s statement of interest notes that Peters\u2019 physical and mental health have deteriorated while she\u2019s been in prison, and that \u201creasonable concerns have been raised\u201d about her case, including the \u201cexceptionally lengthy sentence\u201d the court imposed and the denial of bail for Peters while her appeal plays out. Her appeal deserves \u201cprompt and careful consideration\u201d by the court, Roth wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan Rubinstein, the Mesa County district attorney, said in a statement that \u201cnothing about the prosecution of Ms Peters was politically motivated\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn one of the most conservative jurisdictions in Colorado<\/a>, the same voters who elected Ms Peters, also elected the Republican district attorney who handled the prosecution, and the all-Republican board of county commissioners who unanimously requested the prosecution of Ms Peters on behalf of the citizens she victimized,\u201d Rubinstein said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMs Peters was indicted by a grand jury of her peers, and convicted at trial by the jury of her peers that she selected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peters has become a cause c\u00e9l\u00e8bre on the right, with some Republicans promoting a \u201cfree Tina Peters\u201d movement. A small rally in Fort Collins, Colorado, over the weekend called attention<\/a> to Peters\u2019 appeal, and protesters there insisted she was innocent and had discovered election fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump cannot pardon Peters because she was convicted of state crimes, not federal ones. Some Colorado Republicans have suggested Trump should withhold federal funds from the state until the Democratic governor Jared Polis agrees to pardon Peters, Colorado\u2019s 9News reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n