By Rocky Mountain Voice Staff
Previously elected Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is facing seven felony charges and several misdemeanors in a trial happening this week. She is accused of orchestrating a breach to prove election theft. Peters has pleaded not guilty, claiming she is a victim of lawfare.
The Colorado Secretary of State’s office has refuted her claims summarized in three reports Peters has published, called the “Mesa Reports.” State prosecutors allege that Peters enlisted software engineer Gerald “Jerry” Wood for IT contract work. Wood passed a background check, received his security badge, and returned it the same day. However, prosecutors claim his badge was used twice in May 2021 to access secure election facilities, capturing images of the election server’s hard drive before and after a “trusted build” update, which were then leaked online.
The trial is now underway, and yesterday, Day 3 of the live-streamed trial against former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, featured dramatic testimony and key witness reversals. Peters’ attempt to record a software update on Dominion voting machines, suspecting the update might overwrite election files in violation of state and federal laws requiring file retention for 22-25 months, is at the center of the case.
The trial’s most emotional moment came when Stephanie Wenholz, the elections manager for Mesa County, broke down in tears while testifying about the day she learned the Colorado secretary of state’s office was investigating the county. Wenholz admitted that Peters had instructed employees not to speak with law enforcement and to direct inquiries to her and her attorneys. Despite this, Wenholz contacted Det. James Cannon, the chief investigator for the Mesa County district attorney.
During her testimony, Wenholz described attending a speech by mathematician Douglas Frank, who discussed phantom voters. She described the event as a “revival” and said she felt unsafe. When Peters’ attorney, John Case, asked if anyone had threatened her, she admitted no direct threats were made, but described the environment as anti-election and hostile.
Case also asked Wenholz if Peters encouraged transparency with the public. Wenholz responded that she and another worker, not Peters, had promoted transparency among employees. The prosecution’s direct examination of Wenholz also covered a meeting she attended with Peters, which Wenholz secretly recorded. She claimed Peters committed a crime by allowing non-employees to view the Trusted Build, though she acknowledged that this was not explicitly illegal.
Case focused on inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case, particularly regarding IT professional Conan Hayes allegedly using another’s badge to access the Trusted Build. Case pointed out similar incidents in Maricopa County (Arizona), which received little media attention and no prosecutions. He questioned the witnesses about the badge usage and background checks, highlighting discrepancies in the prosecution’s narrative.
During the trial, Case told the judge he wanted to introduce testimony about whether Mesa County owned the machines running Dominion software, which would justify Peters’ authority over them. District Court Judge Michael Barrett, appointed by Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, seemed unpersuaded and often appeared to argue on behalf of the prosecution. Case eventually said he would submit a written argument with fuller reasoning.
David Underwood, a lead support specialist with Mesa County, testified that Peters allegedly told him IT professional Gerald Wood was a state employee, which led Underwood to grant Wood access to the computer systems. Under cross-examination, Underwood admitted there was no requirement for state employee status to access the systems, contradicting his earlier statement.
Toward the end of the day, Case provided a lengthy description to the judge about testimony and exhibits he wanted to introduce regarding vulnerabilities with the Dominion systems. Barrett allowed him to speak mostly uninterrupted for about 40 minutes, but ultimately refused to let him bring in any of the evidence.
Case aimed to show that Dominion controls what county clerks back up and that state law requires clerks to maintain access records and activity logs, including electronic files. He argued that the configuration logs, which indicate whether the machine can be accessed, and adjudication logs, which preserve voter intent decisions, were deleted during the Trusted Build. Case highlighted that Det. Cannon had to rely on the copy Peters allegedly made, leaked to the Internet, to figure out who accessed the system on May 23, 2021, because the Trusted Build had wiped that information from the systems.
Hartman, another attorney for Peters, wanted to bring in testimony about the “Colorado export problem,” where Dominion systems failed to properly load batches during the June 30, 2020, primary. He claimed Dominion could diagnose and fix the issue remotely, suggesting internet access. However, the judge refused to hear any of this proposed evidence, stating that it was irrelevant to the charges against Peters.
Judge Barrett emphasized that evidence about other potential crimes or system vulnerabilities was not relevant to Peters’ charges. He stated that the jury should focus solely on whether Peters committed the specific crimes she was charged with, not on broader election system issues. Barrett repeatedly sustained the prosecution’s objections on relevance grounds, preventing Case from exploring these areas further.
Danny Casias, a senior voting specialist and technological lead with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, testified about being present at the Trusted Build. Hartman asked if COVID protocols were in place, and Casias confirmed they were, noting he wore a mask. However, Hartman showed a photo of Casias not wearing gloves, part of the COVID protocol, and questioned if he was prosecuted for this violation. Casias said he was not.
Casias testified that Hayes was introduced to him as Gerald Wood, a Motor Vehicle Division employee transferring to Mesa County Elections. Case asked Casias who designed what gets backed up: the clerks, the secretary of state, or Dominion. The prosecutor objected, and the judge sustained the objection, ruling it irrelevant.
Casias testified that someone was always in the room when Hayes was there and that he did not see anyone make a video. He believed any wrongdoing occurred after the installation. Case tried to verify if the bios passwords were reset during installation, but the judge sustained the prosecution’s objection.
Finally, Case got Casias to admit that the county controls who takes videos of the Trusted Builds, but the judge reiterated that the parties had already stipulated Peters took the video. The trial’s outcome remains to be seen, but it is clear that Peters’ defense faces significant challenges in introducing evidence and testimony about broader election system issues and vulnerabilities.
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.