With jury selection and opening statements, Tina Peters’ criminal trial is underway

Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters outside the Mesa County courtroom where her criminal trial got underway on July 31, 2024. (Sharon Sullivan for Colorado Newsline)

After three postponements, the long-awaited trial of former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters is finally underway. Fifteen jurors — eight women and seven men, 12 jurors and three alternates — were selected Wednesday after two days of vetting by Mesa County District Court Judge Matthew Barrett and attorneys on both sides.

In 2022, a Mesa County grand jury charged Peters with three felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, three felony counts of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and one felony count of identity theft. She also faces three misdemeanor charges of official misconduct, elections violations and failure to comply with the Colorado secretary of state’s office — all stemming from her attempt to find irregularities with election equipment in her own elections office.

If convicted on all counts, Peters could face up to 20 years in a state prison and be fined millions of dollars. She pleaded not guilty on all counts, saying the charges are politically motivated.

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During a Tuesday review hearing, Peters’ defense attorney, Dan Hartman of Michigan, asked Barrett to consider sequestering jurors during Peters’ trial. Hartman mentioned repeatedly that it would be difficult to find unbiased jurors due to the media coverage the case has attracted since the alleged election security breach came to light three years ago.

“We may need to conceal jurors from the press. There’s the editor talking to the prosecution side,” Hartman said, motioning toward where the prosecution team consisting of Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, Deputy Attorney General Janet Drake, and Robert Shapiro, first assistant attorney general for special prosecutions at the attorney general’s office, was seated. Although there were four reporters were in the courtroom, no editor was present.

A number of uniformed and plainclothes law enforcement agents were inside and outside the courthouse due to threats of violence by election deniers in recent days.

“Law enforcement agencies are taking security very seriously,” said Rubinstein, who declined to give more details.

In addition to Hartman, Peters’ attorneys include Michael Edminister, of Carbondale; John Case, based in Greenwood Village; and Amy Corrigall Jones, of Ohio. Peters fired her last set of attorneys earlier this year, days before her previously scheduled trial in February was to begin. That trial was rescheduled for late July.

Jurors selected

Jurors were asked if they have participated in Stand For The Constitution, a far-right political group in Grand Junction that supports Peters. They were asked if they were aware of the Tina Peters show, or attended a voting integrity event at a local hotel in April 2020. They were also asked if they had attended a July event at Orchard Mesa Baptist Church featuring election deniers MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Joe Oltmann, a right-wing podcaster.

Jurors who expressed distrust of government answered questions such as, “We are going to have government witnesses in this case — will you have trouble listening to their testimony?”

Several potential jurors said they were largely unaware of Peters and the case, despite media coverage, including national outlets .

On Tuesday, Edminister repeatedly attacked the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, often citing the “700 articles” that have been published regarding Peters’ various legal problems. Edminister went on to tell jurors that newspapers are designed to publish articles to get attention and don’t care whether they’re biased or not.

“Unless (the prosecution) can prove each and every element of the charges, she’s not guilty,” he told jurors. “Assure me you will hold the state to their burden (of proof).”

Opening statements

After the 15 jurors were seated on Wednesday, attorneys for both the defense and prosecution gave opening statements.

The prosecution’s Shapiro said the trial is about a “case of deceit and fraud,” as he laid out how Peters, a Republican, had three duties — managing the department of motor vehicles, recorder’s office, and “most important and relevant, the elections office for Mesa County to fairly and accurately manage the electoral process in this county.”

The prosecution will show how Peters violated her office during a “trusted build,” also known as a software update, Shapiro said.

“Evidence will show how the defendant intentionally took the identify of another person, subjecting that person to legal consequences, and conspired with others,” he noted. She used the identity to allow an unauthorized person from out-of-state into Mesa County’s secured election area, he said.

The case is not about systemic election fraud in the county, or the country, Shapiro said, but rather, “It’s a simple case of deceit and fraud.”

He described how Peters participated in a plot to post secure passwords and other information associated with Mesa County’s electoral system on the internet, with the aim of proving Dominion election equipment is somehow corrupt. Two of Peters’ former staff have pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme and have agreed to testify against Peters.

Shapiro told jurors that Peters became “fixated, verging on obsessed,” working with conspiracy theorists like Sherronna Bishop and Douglas Frank.

Shapiro mentioned how Peters ordered surveillance cameras be turned off to protect the identity of Conan Hayes, the unauthorized person who Shapiro referred to as a “cyber mercenary.” While not against the law at the time, it had always been Mesa County’s policy to have cameras on 24/7, Shapiro said.

In her own opening statements, Jones said she wanted to introduce jurors to the defendant.

“Tina Peters is 68, she’s lived 30 years in (Mesa) county,” Jones said. “She ran for office at age 62 because she wanted to improve the government system. She said she wanted to fix things in her community. She lost a son, Remington, at age 27. He was in the U.S. military. He was an angel on Earth to her.”

Constituents came to her and wanted to run an audit of election equipment, Jones said.

“Regarding the identity theft charge, evidence will show that Tina Peters had permission and even if she didn’t — she didn’t get cash or anything of value,” said Jones.

After the jury left the room, Judge Barrett admonished Jones for repeatedly mentioning the felony classification of crimes — something not typically mentioned to jurors who are instructed to not consider possible punishments, but only the verdict based on evidence presented in court.

Prior to the proceedings beginning on Wednesday, approximately 30 Peters supporters had gathered outside the courtroom, hoping to find a seat inside the courtroom. Mesa County sheriff’s deputies stood in the hallway and inside the courtroom. At one point, Ricky Schroder, known for his career as a child actor, verbally accosted a Daily Sentinel journalist, before being asked to move on by a sheriff deputy.

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