Matthew in the middle | Another crazy week of crazy people doing crazy things – Times-Standard

Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was sentenced to prison this week for allowing a data breach on their voting machines. She was convicted of three counts of attempting to influence a public official, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, dereliction of duty and failure to comply with the Secretary of State. She gave an unknown man associated with Mike “My Pillow Guy” Lindell access to their voting machines in Mesa County.

Peters promoted the “Big Lie” when she made claims without supporting evidence about wireless devices and fraud software in Dominion Systems voting machines. District Judge Matthew Barrett didn’t throw the book at Peters, he threw an encyclopedia at her and sentenced her to nine years in prison. Judge Barrett said, “You are not a hero. You have abused your position and you are a charlatan. Ultimately, you cared about the (private) jets, the podcasts and the people fawning over you.” Considering Trump got 64% of Mesa County’s votes, I’m not sure what fraud she was referring to.

Hello, Felicia.

The New Yorker released “Public Defender,” a video of Heather Shaner, a public defender who is 77 years old, five feet tall, weighs about 120 pounds, and has blue streaks in her hair, using three cushions on her car seat by the looking at the windshield. Shaner tries to confront America’s political divisions with empathy. She is defending the very people she despises for trying to overthrow democracy, as the Constitution grants legal counsel to every defendant whether they can afford the $100,000 legal retainer or not. A sticker on her apartment window reads: “Fight hate, teach tolerance, seek justice.” If only every American thought this way.

Shaner has represented more than 40 defendants as of Jan. 6. The video begins with her dumping more than 100 hours of Department of Justice video (federal indictment) as of January 6, saying, “They’re taking pictures of what they’re doing and creating evidence against themselves. Oh God, it makes me angry every time (she looks at images from January 6).” She defended Jack Jesse Griffith, aka Liberty Dragon from Tennessee. To show the intelligence of some of the January 6 rioters, Griffith wasn’t even registered to vote. Yet on January 6, he came to the Capitol to riot. His lawyer Shaner said: “That seems a little crazy to me.” Griffith was arrested and charged with four federal crimes and sentenced to up to three years in prison.

Shaner also defended Annie Howell from Forty Fort, Pennsylvania. Howell went to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to be part of history. Only later, after being arrested on five felony charges, including two charges, did she realize, “I was on the wrong side.” During the 2020 pandemic, Howell tried to find meaning in her life, so she volunteered for the Trump campaign. It didn’t take long for her to go down the rabbit hole. “All the right-wing networks and the people I surrounded myself with, including my own family, filled my head with the rhetoric that if a Democrat were elected, there would be no place for my child in this country, as a white man.” Unfortunately, four years later, that sounds exactly the same as Fox News and right-wing radio do every day.

Ultimately, Griffith lucked out and was sentenced to three years’ probation, 90 days of home confinement and $500 restitution. U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell said, “Defendants who join a gang to aggressively break police lines and barriers… to break into the Capitol are not intruders. They are criminals.”

Annie Howell spoke to the January 6 Select Committee and when asked why she believed the election was stolen, she said, “When you hear a lie a hundred times, you start to believe it.” Public Defender Shaner’s previous 40-plus suspects were given probation, no jail time, on January 6. Annie was sentenced to 60 days in jail and three years of probation.

For the record, hundreds of Trump supporters have gone to jail. From Michael Cohen, Steve Bannon, Peter Navarro, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, Allen Weisselberg and hundreds of January 6 rioters. Roger Stone and Michael Flynn were convicted and subsequently pardoned by former President Trump. Rudy Giuliani is facing dozens of criminal charges stemming from indictments in Georgia, Arizona and by the DOJ. He also lost a $148 million judgment. Supporting Trump and his lies can be bad for your career and lifestyle.

Matthew Owen lives in Eureka and believes the First Amendment allows for freedom of speech. He can be reached at [email protected].