Matthew DePerno Charged with WHAT?

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https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/us/republicans-charged-in-voting-machine-tampering-probe-in-michigan-5440111?utm_source=News&src_src=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2023-08-03-2&src_cmp=breaking-2023-08-03-2&utm_medium=email&est=ASHtc%2Bq69qUjCLUg2oRSYtAG1fhcepweq3A5NcK%2BIocqeXCZyCQMgBdMkT%2BvPiiQ

Two Republicans, including a former candidate for Michigan attorney general, have been charged by a special prosecutor investigating tampering with voting machines.

Matthew DePerno, who lost a 2022 bid to unseat Democrat Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, was charged with undue possession of a voting machine and unauthorized access to computers, according to court records.

Former state Rep. Daire Rendon, another Republican, was charged with conspiracy to commit undue possession of a machine and false pretenses.

Both were arraigned and released, court records show.

Mr. DePerno’s lawyer said in a statement that the defendant “categorically denies any wrongdoing” and “looks forward to the date when his innocence will be demonstrated in a court of law.”

“The charging decision was the result of a thorough decision-making process by an independent citizens’ grand jury,” Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson said in a statement to news outlets. “This citizens’ grand jury carefully listened to the sworn testimony and analyzed the evidence as required by law and returned a decision to indict each of the defendants.”

Mr. Hilson was appointed by the Michigan Prosecuting Attorney’s Coordinating Council after a referral from Ms. Nessel due to Mr. DePerno running in the election, which hadn’t yet taken place at that point.

Ms. Nessel’s office said she hadn’t been involved in the investigation since Mr. Hilson was appointed.

“A grand jury indictment requires a prosecutor to meet a much higher threshold than the more routine charging process in Michigan. In this instance, the special prosecutor took the additional, extraordinary measure of seeking a court ruling on the legality of at least one of the charges prior to closing the presentation of the facts in order to secure the indictments,” Ms. Nessel said in a statement.

She had asked for the special prosecutor after Michigan State Police gathered evidence that she said showed a plan for Mr. DePerno and others to gain access to voting machines and take the devices to other locations for testing.