Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters sentenced to public service in obstruction case

Tina Peters was sentenced to public service on Monday after she was found guilty last month in an obstruction case. The former Mesa County Clerk was sentenced to 120 hours of pubic service for recording a separate court proceeding on an iPad. 

The judge also sentenced her to four months of home detention with electronic monitoring and ordered her to pay $786.35 in restitution.

Her attorney, Harvey Steinberg, said Monday that he planned to appeal the entire case.

When officers tried to take possession of that iPad at a shop in Grand Junction, she refused to hand it over. 

In another case, Peters is facing several charges, including attempting to influence a public servant, criminal impersonation, two counts of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, one count of identity theft, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.  

Last year, Peters' former chief deputy clerk, Belinda Knisley, pleaded guilty to misdemeanors in connection with the case under a deal that requires her to testify against Peters. She was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation. A third employee from Peters' office has also been charged in the scheme.

Prosecutors alleged that Knisley worked to get a security badge for a man Peters said she was hiring in the clerk's office. Peters then used it to allow another, unauthorized person inside the room to make a copy of the election equipment hard drive during an update to election equipment in May 2021, it said. 

A judge prohibited Peters from overseeing the 2021 and 2022 elections in Mesa County.

Peters lost her bid to become Colorado's top elections official last June, losing a primary election in which she sought to become the Republican candidate to challenge Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold in November's election. Peters alleged fraud in the primary but a recount she paid for confirmed that she lost.

Peters is also under investigation by federal and state authorities for an alleged security breach of voting machines. The criminal charge relates to an iPad the Mesa County District Attorney's Office wanted to examine.

She has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the alleged security breach.