GRAND JUNCTION — Prosecutors walked jurors through the complicated system behind vote counting in the first week of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ trial. They questioned witnesses who showed step-by-step how Peters allegedly invaded that system in her attempt to prove the 2020 election was fraudulent.
Even though election conspiracy theories are not allowed in the trial and Peters is not charged with election fraud, the testimony has tiptoed around some of the numerous tentacles of national stolen-election theories.
The testimony so far has shown that election deniers descended on Mesa County when they found a clerk willing to accept their election-fraud theories.
Among the prominent right-wing figures cited by prosecution witnesses was Ron Watkins, the former . Famous election deniers MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and also figured into testimony, along with former professional surfer turned self-described “cyber expert†Conan Hayes and right-wing activist Sherronna Bishop.
Peters is being tried on seven felonies and three misdemeanors alleging identity theft, criminal impersonation, official misconduct, and violating her duties as county clerk. Her trial is expected to run through next week and possibly into the following week.
In cross-examination of prosecution witnesses, Peters’ team of four defense attorneys and a phalanx of their clerks and consultants, attempted to show that Peters broke no laws when she breached her own system. They drew testimony that the breach was her way of trying to ensure the election in her county was accurate.
How the prosecution started
The prosecution opened its case with a detailed account of Peters’ actions delivered by James Cannon, the chief investigator for the 21st Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Cannon laid out the steps he took in an investigation he began on Aug. 9, 2021, when his office received a call from the office of the Colorado Secretary of State notifying him that the election system for Mesa County had been hacked and images of operating systems and passwords had been posted on a QAnon website.
Within two days, Cannon had obtained search warrants for homes and offices linked to Peters and her elections office. He had yellow crime tape draping secure sections of the elections office. He had locks changed on secure rooms. He had checked all county records to determine who might have illegally entered the tabulation room during what is called a trusted build.
That has been described in the trial as a system upgrade that is similar to periodic cellphone updates — but with tight controls over who can be in attendance.
In this case it was supposed to be a handful of representatives from the clerk’s office, the Secretary of State’s Office and Dominion Voting Systems, the maker of the voting system in use in Mesa County and most other counties in Colorado.
One of those listed on the slate of trusted build attendees was Gerald Wood, who was identified as an administrative assistant for Peters.
Wood, a local man who has been mentioned at the heart of the Peters’ case since it first blew up into a national story three years ago, told the jury he was ensnared in the election-office crimes when he was asked by Peters and Bishop to take a consulting job with the clerk’s office.
Wood, a 32-year software engineer for an alarm-monitoring company, came into Peters’ orbit when he joined a conservative Mesa County group called Stand for the Constitution. Wood said it was initially organized for educating citizens about the Constitution, but evolved into a political conspiracy-promoting group that included Peters.
Wood agreed to do consulting work for Peters and, after passing a background check, was issued a badge to enter secure elections areas. Peters’ assistant clerk asked Wood to return the badge before he ever did any work. It was never returned to him.
Wood, who was questioning election integrity at the time, did attend Lindell’s Cyber Symposium in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as a cyber-expert participant. Peters was also at that symposium where confidential election information from Mesa County was publicized. It purportedly showed that Dominion Election Systems could change election results.
Wood said the symposium was touted as an event where proof of election fraud would be revealed. He said it was not.
Man’s home was raided when he was a “cybersecurity†symposium
While he was there, Wood got news that his home had been searched by law enforcement officers and that his name was being publicized nationally as a participant in election-system hacking in Mesa County.
Using Wood’s access badge and identification, Hayes had allegedly entered the area that was off-limits during a time when security cameras in the tabulation room were turned off. Employees testified that it was the first time in memory that those cameras had been turned off.
The plot came together after Peters became enmeshed with election deniers intent on showing that former President Trump had not lost the 2020 election, according to prosecution witness Brandi Bantz.
Bantz, Mesa County’s director of elections, described being called into Peters’ office for a meeting where Frank and Peters were present along with two other Peters’ employees who have since taken plea deals and been sentenced for their parts in the election-system breach.
Bantz said she was asked by Peters to leave that meeting and was ordered to attend a stolen-election seminar being given by Frank that evening at a Grand Junction hotel.
She said she was uncomfortable.
“Theories were being discussed — theories about voter fraud,†Bentz told the jury. “I do not support those theories.â€
Frank was promoting the idea across the country that voting tabulation systems allowed for “phantom voters†to sway election outcomes. He said he was doing it at the behest, and on the payroll, of Lindell.
“I think it’s a feather in your cap if we discover this corruption in your county,†Frank was recorded telling Peters and her subordinates during a meeting in Peters’ office on April 23, 2021. Part of that meeting was recorded by Peters’ election manager, Stephanie Wenholz, who also testified that she was uncomfortable with the election-conspiracy information seeping into the Mesa County office.
She called investigator Cannon sobbing when she felt she needed to report what was going on.
During the meeting that upset her, Frank offered to bring in a team to find phantom voters on Mesa County’s system.
“They will do it for you. They are the best in the country,†he said on the recording played during the trial.
Peters’ defense team spent much of Friday afternoon trying to poke holes in the testimony of Wood who told jurors he did not remember many dates and faces and conversations associated with his activities that are linked to the Peters’ case.
At the end of his testimony as a prosecution witness, defense attorney Daniel Hartman caused a stir in the courtroom when he shoved a paper at Wood in an attempt to subpoena him as a defense witness. Wood left the courtroom without taking it. The exchange came after the jury had been dismissed from the courtroom.
Judge Barrett later ruled that attempted serving of a subpoena was “ineffective†because an attorney is not allowed to serve a witness.
The trial will continue Monday with two more days expected for the prosecution’s witnesses before the defense presents its case.