The Justice Division on Monday filed a extremely uncommon movement stating its intent to evaluate a state-level conviction of a Trump ally who was sentenced to 9 years in jail for main a safety breach of her county’s elections pc system following the 2020 presidential election.
Former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk Tina Peters was sentenced final October for giving a person affiliated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, an ally of President Donald Trump who amplified false election claims, entry to election software program she used for her county. Screenshots of the software program later appeared on right-wing web sites that in flip used it to additional promote baseless claims of voter fraud.
Early final month, Peters filed a movement with the federal district courtroom in Colorado searching for to problem her responsible verdict.
On Monday, the senior performing head of the Justice Division’s Civil Division, Yaakov Roth, filed a assertion of curiosity with the courtroom, urging a decide to provide “immediate and cautious consideration” to issues Peters’ counsel has raised about her case.
“Affordable issues have been raised about varied elements of Ms. Peters’ case,” Roth mentioned within the submitting. “Accordingly, the USA respectfully submits that the issues raised within the Utility warrant – on the very least – immediate and cautious consideration by this Courtroom (and, on the acceptable time, the Colorado appellate courts).”
Candidate Tina Peters speaks throughout a debate for the state management place, Feb. 25, 2023, in Hudson, Colo.
David Zalubowski/AP, FILE
The Justice Division doesn’t have the authorized authority to unilaterally overturn state-level convictions. Nevertheless, some critics have expressed issues that such intervention highlights a troubling willingness by Trump-appointed officers on the Division of Justice to assist allies of the president, whereas additionally elevating the prospect of retribution in opposition to his political opponents.
Roth’s submitting additional states that Peters’ case suits right into a broader evaluate underway on the Justice Division of “instances throughout the nation” that the submitting argues could also be “abuses of the prison justice course of.”
“This evaluate will embrace an analysis of the State of Colorado’s prosecution of Ms. Peters and, specifically, whether or not the case was ‘oriented extra towards inflicting political ache than towards pursuing precise justice or official governmental aims,’” the submitting said.
“Nothing concerning the prosecution of Ms. Peters was politically motivated,” Mesa County District Legal professional Daniel Rubinstein mentioned in response to an ABC Information request for remark. “In probably the most conservative jurisdictions in Colorado, the identical voters who elected Ms. Peters, additionally elected the Republican District Legal professional who dealt with the prosecution, and the all-Republican Board of County Commissioners who unanimously requested the prosecution of Ms. Peters on behalf of the residents she victimized.”
“Ms. Peters was indicted by a grand jury of her friends, and convicted at trial by the jury of her friends that she chosen,” Rubenstein mentioned.
