Pro-Trump attorney Stefanie Lambert Junttila charged in voting machine investigation
Michigan lawyer Stefanie Lambert Junttila faces criminal charges resulting from a special prosecutor's review of allegations that she joined other allies of former President Donald Trump in a conspiracy to gain illegal access to voting machines after the 2020 election.
She was arraigned Thursday afternoon and released on a personal bond.
She faces multiple charges, including "undue possession" of a voting machine. They come after two other Michigan Republicans — former Michigan attorney general candidate Matt DePerno and former state Rep. Daire Rendon, R-Lake City — were arraigned earlier this week on charges stemming from the voting machine probe.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's Office accused Trump allies of crafting a plot to access voting machines from across the state. Nessel sought a special prosecutor to consider possible criminal charges in the matter because she was campaigning for reelection at the time against DePerno. Muskegon County Prosecutor DJ Hilson was appointed to the role. He petitioned to convene a grand jury in the matter which brought the charges against DePerno, Junttila and Rendon.
Voting machine probe: Behind the criminal charges brought against Michigan Trump allies
"These charges were authorized by an independent citizens grand jury," Hilson said in a statement. "Protecting the election process is of the utmost importance for our state and country." He called the prosecution "an important step in that direction."
No more charges will be brought stemming from the review carried out by Hilson, he added.
Junttila blasted how Hilson has handled the investigation and threatened to sue him for "malicious prosecution" in a virtual call with reporters last week.
Asked for a comment on the charges Thursday, Junttila provided a comment she said was from her lawyer — Michael Smith — accusing Hilson of misconduct. The statement indicates that a prosecutor must disclose relevant laws to a judge and jury.
"Hilson failed to advise the judge and jury of statutes, constitutional law, and legal precedent set by a higher court. He has a continuous obligation to update the court of the law and has yet to do so as of the date and time of arraignment of Stefanie Lambert. My client was a zealous advocate for her clients and she did not violate the law and intends to sue Hilson for malicious prosecution," the statement reads.
Junttila accused Democrats of trying to silence her in a plot to keep Trump out of office in a video posted to her Telegram account shortly after midnight Wednesday, several hours after a grand jury indicted Trump for a series of alleged crimes in a campaign to subvert the will of voters in 2020.
Junttila was one of several lawyers involved in a lawsuit to overturn the 2020 election in Michigan. A federal appeals court recently upheld sanctions against some of the attorneys involved but ruled that Junttila won't have to pay any legal fees because Junttila did not advocate for the complaint’s frivolous claims, the panel found.
Several months after President Joe Biden entered office, Junttila continued to question the legitimacy of the 2020 election and pressed local officials in Michigan to carry out an investigation. She met with Cheboygan County commissioners to push for another audit — despite the fact Trump won the county — based on debunked reports that votes were manipulated. The commission's request for an audit was ultimately denied by the Bureau of Elections, which informed the commissioners that they lacked the authority to carry out their own probe.
In her meeting with commissioners to push for the audit, Lambert said that she worked with DePerno on election lawsuits and indicated a group of three — Ben Cotton, Jeffrey Lenberg and Doug Logan — were part of their "expert" team reviewing Michigan's election equipment, according to a summary of Lambert's presentation documented in meeting minutes.
Nessel asked a special prosecutor to consider charges against those individuals in the voting machine probe. In total, Nessel's request for a special prosecutor named nine individuals allegedly involved in an effort to gain access to voting machines and tamper with the equipment, including one official: Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf.
The release from Hilson states that the decision to issue charges against only three suspects — DePerno, Junttila and Rendon — was the result of "careful consideration of the totality of the evidence gathered by investigators, review of the witness statements, evaluation of the law related to viable defenses, and decisions on what is fair and just."
Meanwhile, election officials who handed over tabulators and the computer experts tasked with analyzing them were misled by some of the charged defendants, the release states.
Contact Clara Hendrickson: chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pro-Trump Michigan attorney charged in voting machine probe
