DENVER (AP) — The Trump administration is searching for a switch from state jail to federal custody of a former Colorado county clerk who has grow to be a hero to election conspiracy theorists, the state and one among her attorneys stated Friday.
The Colorado Division of Corrections stated Friday that it obtained a letter from the federal Bureau of Prisons relating to Tina Peters on Wednesday. Neither the division nor the Bureau of Prisons instantly responded to a request to supply a duplicate of the letter however a corrections division spokesperson, Alondra Gonzalez, confirmed the letter was a request to maneuver Peters to federal custody.
A member of Peters’ authorized staff, Peter Ticktin, stated he had seen the letter and likewise described it as a request to maneuver her to a federal jail to serve out her sentence there.
“It is not to have her released,” he stated.
Whereas Ticktin stated the letter didn’t say why the company needed to maneuver Peters, he believes it’s so she might extra simply be concerned in investigations into voting machines within the 2020 presidential election and due to well being issues she has been having in state jail.
Peters, 70, was convicted of orchestrating a scheme to breach voting machine knowledge pushed by false claims of fraud within the 2020 election. Her launch from jail has grow to be a trigger celebre within the election conspiracy motion.
President Donald Trump and different supporters inside and outdoors his administration have been urging that Peters be freed as she appeals her conviction. In September, after Peters pleaded for the president to launch her forward of the midterm elections, Trump renewed his name for her to be freed, saying “We’re going to do something.”
Colorado Lawyer Basic Phil Weiser stated there was no foundation for a switch to federal jail and stated he would “strongly oppose” any such efforts.
“Any scheme to prevent her from being held accountable under Colorado law is outrageous,” Weiser stated in an announcement.
His workplace can also be opposing an effort by Peters in federal court docket searching for to be launched from jail whereas the enchantment of her state conviction performs out.
Peters is serving a nine-year sentence after a jury in Mesa County, the place she had served as clerk, discovered her responsible final 12 months of permitting somebody to achieve unauthorized entry to the election system she oversaw and deceiving different officers about that individual’s identification. She has continued to press discredited claims about rigged voting machines.
There isn’t a proof of any important dishonest in Colorado elections, which have been staunchly defended by the state’s county clerks, most of whom are Republican. Peters was prosecuted by an elected Republican district lawyer, and the three supervisors in her conservative-leaning county additionally supported the case and defended the integrity of the state’s elections.
