(Colorado News Connection) The already delayed trial of former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters has been postponed yet again. Her criminal trial was scheduled to begin Friday, but now it’s set to start in July. 

Peters was indicted in March 2022 by a grand jury on seven felony charges and three misdemeanors, all related to her attempts to prove election fraud in Mesa County.  

During a review hearing on Tuesday, District Judge Matthew Barrett granted Peters’ request for a continuance, reversing a decision he had made the day before when Peters requested that her trial be delayed.

Image

At issue was Peters’ firing of her latest attorney, Douglas Richards, citing a “breakdown in the relationship” and “irreconcilable conflict.” She replaced Richards with a new attorney, her fifth, Michael Edminister, and said she needed more time to prepare. 

During Tuesday’s proceeding, Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein twice asked for Peters’ camera to be turned on at all times. She had asked to appear remotely for the review hearing due to being ill with COVID. Once the camera was on, Peters coughed lightly, and said “I’m not feeling well.”

Barrett mentioned Peters’ claims of illness as a second factor in granting the continuance — though Rubinstein appeared skeptical. He requested that Peters provide a document from a licensed physician confirming the diagnosis — an order that Barrett granted. Peters must obtain the diagnosis by the end of the day Thursday.

“She’s already been convicted of lying once,” Rubinstein said. 

In a separate but related case in 2022, Peters was cited for contempt of court for recording a court hearing and lying about it.

Barrett first denied Peters’ request for continuance due to the age of the case, her efforts to delay, and the nature of the allegations. Though he expressed concern regarding the latest request for continuance occurring so close to trial, in light of Peters’ illness, and the hiring of new counsel, he changed his mind Tuesday.

Edminister, who also appeared via video, said, “If the court was made aware of what Tina Peters feels is the conflict it would understand this is not for purposes of delay — but a schism between her and her attorney. I submit that if we had a vehicle where you could hear testimony from Tina Peters where prosecution was not involved, or there was a different judge, if you were aware of all the factors that went into her decision you’d understand where she’s coming from.”

The case must proceed to trial. At some point this must end. Numerous attorneys have cycled through. We will bring you to trial within six months.

– Judge Matthew Barrett to Tina Peters

At one point during the hearing Rubinstein stood up and pointed out that the camera was off again. After turning the camera back on, Peters reiterated that she was not feeling well, and that her nose was bleeding. 

Barrett said due to her being sick, and her need for representation, he would grant a continuance, after making sure Peters agreed to waive her right to a speedy trial. 

“But a warning has been given,” Barrett said. “The case must proceed to trial. At some point this must end. Numerous attorneys have cycled through. We will bring you to trial within six months.”

Peters faces three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, two counts of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, one count of criminal impersonation and one count of identity theft. An election denier, Peters is alleged to have participated in a scheme to breach secure equipment in her own elections office in 2021 in an attempt to find evidence that Colorado’s voting system was rigged.

Rubinstein also asked the court to restrict Peters from leaving Mesa County without permission. Barrett declined the request, saying that “Tina Peters knows there will be no other continuance on this matter, and the expectation is she will be involved with her counsel. I will not restrict her movements more than her condition of bond.”

“This case is relatively simple, it’s not complex. No more than five months is necessary to get Edminister up to speed,” Barrett said.

‘Slap in the face’

Before the trial was postponed, Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams sent out an email to Republicans asking for their “prayers” for Peters. He referred to the charges as “retaliation, persecution, and prosecution for preserving our election records and exposing the fraud inside the machines.”

Claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent or compromised have been debunked by elections officials, experts, media investigations, law enforcement and the courts.

Monday a long list of Republicans — including former secretaries of state Mary Estill Buchanan and Mike Coffman, the current Aurora mayor — responded in dismay to Williams’ call to “support disgraced former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.” 

“As current and former Republican election officials, your decision to support an individual who has actively worked to undermine our elections statewide is a slap in the face and an affront to each of us who have worked to become experts in election administration and to build and sustain secure elections in Colorado over many decades,” the group said, adding, “To be clear, there was no fraud in Mesa County elections. She led a willful breach of her voting system. Peters did not uncover any fraud or threats to Mesa County elections. In the end, she herself was the threat to election integrity in the county. Her actions made elections less secure and more susceptible to nefarious activity. She has since embarked on a national campaign to discredit our elections processes, the same processes she never bothered to understand when she served as a county clerk. She has also profited financially and has become quite famous while trying to deflect blame, putting her former staff and others in harm’s way and saddling Mesa County taxpayers with more than one million dollars in expenses to unnecessarily recount election results and replace the voting systems she compromised.” 

The email from Williams also prompted a scathing reply from former former Mesa County GOP Chairman Kevin McCarney in an email addressed to the Republican Party’s Central Committee members. McCarthy, who once supported Peters, told Williams he was supporting “criminality,” and was making it harder to elect Republicans in 2024. 

A jury trial has been set for July 31, after two days of jury selection.

Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on Facebook and Twitter.