Trump election conspiracist Tina Peters sentenced to 9 years in prison by Colorado judge

Mesa County Clerk and Colorado Republican candidate for secretary of state Tina Peters reacts to early election returns during a primary night watch party at the Wide Open Saloon on June 28, 2022 in Sedalia, Colorado.

Tina Peters, a former Colorado Republican county clerk who espoused the false conspiracy theory that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election due to ballot fraud, was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison for crimes related to a breach of her county's voting system.

"You are no hero," state District Court Judge Matthew Barrett told Peters. "You're a charlatan who used and is still using your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that's been proven to be junk time and time again."

"Your lies are well documented, and these convictions are serious. I'm convinced you'd do it all over again if you could," Barrett told the 68-year-old former Mesa County clerk, who was accused of using another person's security badge to allow someone else to gain access to her county's election system.

The person who used that badge was affiliated with Mike Lindell, the CEO of My Pillow and a leading proponent of the claim that Trump's defeat for a second term was due to ballot fraud.

"You're as defiant a defendant as this court has ever seen," Barrett told Peters.

Peters, who had requested probation, told the judge before being sentenced, "I've never done anything with malice to break the law. I've only wanted to serve the people of Mesa County."