A judge Tuesday postponed a criminal trial for former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters after the election denier again switched the team of attorneys defending her against charges related to a 2021 breach of the county’s election system.
The trial was scheduled to begin Friday, but District Court Judge Matthew Barrett rescheduled it for July 29 through Aug. 12.
A Mesa County grand jury indicted Peters in March 2022 on 10 counts, with a trial originally set for March 2023.
Carbondale attorney Michael Edminister is taking over the case from Douglas Richards and other attorneys in the Denver-based Richards Carrington law firm. Edminister filed a motion to replace the other lawyers Monday, with hearings on the request held Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.
Barrett said Peters’ lawyers cited “irreconcilable differences” with their client as the reason for the latest switch.
Barrett rescheduled the trial because he said it appeared Peters was unaware that she might end up with no representation if he hadn’t approved the change in lawyers.
Peters also told the court she has COVID, and Barrett ordered her to submit a test from a doctor by the end of the day Thursday.
Peters previously filed a lawsuit in federal district court in an attempt to halt the criminal trial, claiming federal and state officials violated her constitutional rights and that their investigations constituted harassment. A judge dismissed that suit in January, though Peters is appealing.
Edminister identified himself in court as her fifth attorney of record.
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Earlier in the hearing, Barrett said the timing of Peter’s motion to switch attorneys — three days before her trial was scheduled to begin — led him to the conclusion that she was using delay tactics to postpone the trial.
Barrett laid out Peters’ three choices on Monday: she could rehire Richards, represent herself or rely on a new attorney who was not prepared for trial.
But the judge pivoted and granted the continuance Tuesday based on motions filed by both Richards and Edminister.
Barrett said those motions put him in the difficult position of balancing Peters’ right to counsel with the court’s mandate for “an orderly and efficient use of justice.”
He said it was obvious that Peters couldn’t effectively represent herself. He noted her high school education, her lack of legal experience, and the fact that she reported to the court that she is suffering from COVID.
He said those factors, however, didn’t change his belief that Peters’ has been using stalling tactics.
“This is not something that is a surprise,” Barrett said. “The fact that this was brought up so close to trial — that’s the driving force behind the court’s concern about these dilatory tactics.”
Peters appeared virtually in a bathrobe during the Monday hearing, and in Tuesday’s hearing she coughed and wiped her nose repeatedly, speaking in a quavering voice. In the middle of the hearing, she disappeared from the screen and told the judge it was because she had a bloody nose.
Peters perked up noticeably by the end of the hearing after the continuance was granted.
The judge granted Mesa County District Attorney Daniel Rubinstein’s request that Peters be required to undergo a COVID test done by a licensed physician.
“She has already been convicted of lying once,” Rubinstein said.
The delay marks the fourth time Peters’ criminal trial, originally set for March 2023, has been postponed, court records show.