August 31, 2022 11:37 AM UTC

Mesa County DA Hits Gas On Tina Peters Prosecution

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Grand Junction Sentinel reports:

Prosecutors have concluded their investigation into Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and intend to ask for a trial date at a hearing next Wednesday.

In a press release Tuesday, 21st Judicial District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said his office and “the Colorado Attorney General’s Office have been engaged in parallel investigations with federal authorities related to the events that formed the basis of the Grand Jury indictment.”

While Rubinstein said his office is ready to ask for a trial date, the press release also noted that they have requested the United States Attorney’s Office “to continue its investigation into all potential perpetrators of federal crimes related to the events in Mesa County.”

AP via Denver7:

Rubinstein’s announcement comes less than a week after Mesa County Deputy Clerk and Recorder Belinda Knisley agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against Peters, former election manager Sandra Brown, and any other people who might potentially be charged in connection with the May 2021 Mesa County election system security breach…

Knisley, who was suspended on Aug. 23, 2021, and barred from performing work for Mesa County, had participated in a proffer session in early June in which she spoke with state and federal investigators for seven hours about the scheme, allegedly masterminded by Peters, to copy hard drive images of the county’s election systems and allow an unauthorized man named Conan Hayes into the trusted build of the election machines with the Secretary of State’s Office and Dominion Voting Systems.

It does increasingly appear that Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ deputy Belinda Knisley ‘s decision to cooperate with investigators against her former boss has accelerated the timeline for bringing the case to trial. There’s been no word so far about Peters negotiating a plea deal of her own, and Peters continues to complain loudly about restrictions imposed on her by the court that prevented her from traveling in person to “MyPillow Guy” Mike Lindell’s latest election conspiracy theory conference last week in Missouri. At Lindell’s “Moment of Truth” conference, the Lara Logan-directed movie about Peters’ supposed persecution in the service of conspiracy theorizing, Selection Code, debuted without Peters–which has to hurt after receiving the red carpet treatment at Mar-a-Lago, for the premiere of Dinesh D’Souza’s election conspiracy theory movie having nothing to do with Peters’ case.

Now that Peters is–whether she likes it or not–no longer a candidate for office, the double life she’s led for the last year as a celebrity in the election conspiracy theory world traveling the country in luxury while at the same time an accused felon facing a long jail sentence back here in Colorado is quickly coming to an end. The bubble of misinformation that Peters has thrived in since her case became public does not include the courtroom, and at some point soon Peters is going to have to choose between sacrificing her freedom to preserve her status as a political martyr for the Big Lie, or cutting her own deal with prosecutors to minimize her own suffering.

We hope Peters’ lawyers at some point give her something they’re not known for: good advice.