A Closer Look at the Attorneys in the Tina Peters Trial | Western Colorado

Robert Shapiro

Shapiro, not to be confused with the defense attorney who worked on the OJ Simpson case in 1995, is the first deputy attorney general for special prosecutions in the Colorado attorney general’s office. Shapiro is prosecuting the case as a special deputy prosecutor for the 21st District Attorney’s Office.

Shapiro started with the attorney general’s office in 2007 after serving as a prosecutor in Boulder County. He has a previous connection to the area when he was the Mesa County District Attorney in 1996 and 1997.

He also worked as an intelligence officer for the U.S. Army for four years, according to his biography with the Colorado Bar Association, which included postings in Panama, Europe and the U.S.

Janet Drake

Drake, who is also acting as a special deputy prosecutor for the 21st Judicial District Attorney’s Office in the prosecution of the case, is an assistant attorney general for the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.

Drake was promoted to the position in 2019 after nearly 13 years as a senior assistant attorney general, according to her LinkedIn page. She leads the Special Prosecutions Unit, Financial Fraud Unit, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and Police Officer Standards and Training (POST), according to the National Association of Attorneys General.

A special prosecutor is a prosecutor outside of an office that would normally handle a case. They are appointed to avoid potential conflicts of interest or to demonstrate subject matter expertise, according to Cornell University Law School.

Dan Rubinstein

Rubinstein, who did not interview any witnesses during the trial but is sitting at the prosecution table, has been the district attorney for the 21st Judicial District, which includes Mesa County, since 2015.

Rubinstein has worked with the 21st District Attorney’s Office since 1996, minus a period from 2002 to 2005 when he was in private practice.

DEFENSE

Michael Edminster

Edminster, of Carbondale, was hired by Peters after she fired her two previous attorneys, Douglas Richards and Madalia Maaliki, in February, causing a delay in the trial.

John Case

Case, of Denver, graduated from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law in 1973 and served as a bomber navigator in Vietnam.

According to his website, Case “represents citizens petitioning for integrity in Colorado’s election system.”

Dan Hartman

As of January 20, 2024, Hartman was the general counsel of the Republican Party of Michigan.

Hartman is also represented by Michigan attorney Stefanie Lambert, who faces similar charges to Peters after allegedly allowing an unauthorized person to access voter data related to the 2020 election.

Amy Jones

Jones is a former administrative judge in Summit County, Ohio. She resigned from the bench in August 2022 after nearly 10 years as a judge. He is now in private practice.