The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied an emergency request from former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters as part of her effort to halt her criminal case, less than two weeks before her trial is set to begin in Grand Junction.
Peters faces seven felony charges, including attempting to influence a public servant and criminal impersonation, for allegedly allowing a contractor to make a copy of an election computer’s hard drive during a software update in 2021 as she searched for proof of conspiracy theories promoted by former President Donald Trump about the 2020 election.
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In the emergency application for an injunction, attorneys for Peters claimed she was acting within her duty to preserve election records and should be protected from prosecution by the 14th Amendment.
Peters first filed a federal lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and 21st Judicial District Attorney Dan Rubinstein in November.
The case was dismissed in January, and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied her request for an emergency appeal in February and affirmed the district court’s ruling on June 21, according to court records.
Peters’ application was denied by Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch on Monday. The denial did not include any comment from the court.
Attorneys for Peters could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Peters is currently under home confinement and wearing an ankle monitor for a separate case where she used an iPad to illegally record a court hearing and tried to withhold it from court officials, according to The Daily Sentinel.
Her jury trial is set to begin July 31, according to court records.
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