Michigan election tampering case stalls as DePerno seeks to block texts linked to 2020 audit effort | Kyle Davidson/Michigan Advance
After the preliminary examination of former attorney general candidate Matt DePerno and former state Rep. Daire Rendon (R-Lake City) kicked off on Thursday, the review of evidence has been put on pause over a dispute on whether a series of text messages should be admitted as evidence. Rendon and DePerno, as well as attorney Stefanie Lambert Junttila, were indicted in 2023, following an investigation into potential tampering with election equipment following the 2020 election, led by Special Prosecutor D.J. Hilson. The three defendants are each accused of participating in a conspiracy to gain access to voting tabulators, where a group of information technology experts allegedly performed “testing” on the machines.