A Colorado man pleaded guilty to a voter fraud case last week, in which he cast an illegal ballot for then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election — while forging the identity of his wife, who was determined "missing" by police six months before Election Day.
Upon submitting his guilty plea for forging in Chaffee County district court Thursday, Barry Morphew was fined and assessed court costs of $600. Also, as part of his plea agreement, Morphew will receive no jail time unless he violates terms of the supervised probation, in which case he could face up to six years.
Barry Morphew's wife, Suzanne Morphew, has been missing since May 10, 2020, after last being seen by a neighbor on a bike ride.
According to the Denver Post, local authorities spent more than a year searching for Suzanne, regularly following up on "hundreds" of other supposed eyewitness tips. Police never found a body bearing her likeness.
Shortly thereafter, Barry had been charged with first-degree murder of Suzanne, but the case was dropped nine days before the trial.
Like most states, Colorado does not require a corpse to file murder chargers against an individual or group.
As for the voter-fraud portion of the case, Barry acknowledged filling out, signing, and then sending a fraudulent ballot in October 2020.
"Just because I wanted Trump to win. I just thought, Give him another vote. I figured all these other guys are cheating," Barry reportedly told the FBI in April 2021, while adding he didn't know that forging a spouse's ballot was illegal.
Because his wife was already missing, the Chaffee County's office quickly red-flagged the mail-in vote.
An arrest warrant for Barry soon followed. He was charged with count of forgery and one count of a mail ballot offense.
For the 2020 election, Joe Biden defeated then-President Trump by more than 450,000 total votes in Colorado.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.