March 13 (Reuters) - Patrick Byrne, the founder and

former CEO of Overstock.com, has hired a lawyer facing criminal

charges in Michigan for allegedly tampering with voting machines

to defend him in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit.

Stefanie Lambert filed an appearance in Washington, D.C.,

federal court on Tuesday on behalf of Byrne, who has been

fighting a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems for

the past three years.

Dominion sued Byrne and others for spreading false claims

that it rigged the 2020 election against then-U.S. President

Donald Trump. Fox News settled Dominion's lawsuit for $787.5

million last year.

Lambert, also known as Stefanie Lambert Junttila, is one of

the lawyers who tried to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election

victory in Michigan. In August, she was charged with accessing,

tampering with and undue possession of voting machines in the

state, according to Michigan court records.

Last week, Oakland County Circuit Judge Jeffery Matis issued

a bench warrant for Lambert after she failed to appear at a

March 7 show-cause hearing.

DJ Hilson, the prosecutor for Muskegon County who has

been selected to serve as special prosecutor in the election

case, said in an email he requested the March 7 hearing because

Lambert failed to comply with a court order to provide her DNA

and fingerprints.

"Ms. Lambert has yet to appear in person or by Zoom to

any hearings that have been set by the court," Hilson said.

Lambert did not immediately respond to multiple messages

seeking comment, nor did her lawyer Michael Smith. Byrne also

did not respond to a request for comment.

Byrne was previously represented in the Dominion lawsuit by

a team of lawyers from McGlinchey Stafford. Their withdrawal

notice, also filed on Tuesday, did not say why they were exiting

the case, but they noted that no trial date had been set in the

defamation case and that Byrne "consents to this withdrawal.

Byrne has called Dominion's claims "baseless," arguing in a

November 2021 filing in part that his comments were protected by

the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as a "investigative

and citizen journalist."