BREAKING: Colorado Appeals Court tosses 9-year sentence for former county clerk Tina Peters

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BREAKING: A Colorado court has just thrown out the excessive 9-year sentence against former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters, and order the local court to re-sentence her.

Peters, now 70, was sentenced to 9 years in prison in October 2024 by a Democrat-appointed judge for her well-intentioned efforts to preserve records on Dominion voting machines after the 2020 election. She was indicted in March 2022 after prosecutors accused her of improperly permitting someone to copy access passwords and other files from a voting system. She is considered as a whistleblower by conservatives, and is a Gold Star mother.

Mainstream media continues to label Peters as an “election denier” in their headlines.

From the New York Times: A Colorado appeals court on Thursday overturned the prison sentence of Tina Peters, the most prominent election denier still behind bars for crimes stemming from the 2020 election. But the court did not immediately free Ms. Peters from prison or overturn her underlying conviction.

In a 3-to-0 ruling, the appeals court panel threw out the nine-year sentence handed down in 2024 to Ms. Peters, the former Mesa County clerk, and ordered that her case be sent back to the trial court in the county for resentencing. A jury in her conservative Western Colorado hometown had convicted her of tampering with voting machines that were under her control.

President Trump has been demanding her release for months in a pressure campaign aimed at Colorado and its Democratic governor, Jared Polis.

The judges found that the trial judge who sentenced Ms. Peters had violated her free-speech rights by criticizing her as a “charlatan” and a snake-oil saleswoman who peddled false claims that the 2020 election had been rigged against Mr. Trump.

The judges wrote in their ruling Thursday morning: “The trial court’s comments about Peters’s belief in the existence of 2020 election fraud went beyond relevant considerations for her sentencing. Her offense was not her belief, however misguided the trial court deemed it to be, in the existence of such election fraud; it was her deceitful actions in her attempt to gather evidence of such fraud.”

The judges further wrote: “The tenor of the court’s comments makes clear that it felt the sentence length was necessary, at least in part, to prevent her from continuing to espouse views the court deemed ‘damaging.’

“But the court failed to acknowledge that Peters is no longer the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder. She is no longer in a position to engage in the conduct that led to her conviction. So it cannot be said that the lengthy prison sentence was for specific deterrence. To the contrary, the sentence punished Peters for her persistence in espousing her beliefs regarding the integrity of the 2020 election.”

However, the court rejected President Donald Trump’s efforts to issue a pardon for Peters, noting that a president cannot pardon someone for a state offense.

Trump has repeatedly pleaded with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to pardon Peters.

On March 3, Polis indicated he was considering a pardon for Peters, as he pointed to a similar case in which a public official was only sentenced to probation and community service.

Last week, former State Senator Sonya Jaquez Lewis was sentenced to probation and community service after being convicted of four felonies including Attempt to Influence a Public Official. She made a horrible mistake, and she was wrong. I hope she learns from this and can rebuild her life. As someone who has known Sonya as a friend for many years, on a personal level I was glad to hear she isn’t going to prison which is a hard place for anyone, no less a retired 68-year old pharmacist.

But it is not lost on me that she was convicted of the exact same felony charge as Tina Peters — attempting to influence a public official — and yet Tina Peters, as a non-violent first time offender got a nine year sentence. Justice in Colorado and America needs to be applied evenly, you never know when you might need to depend on the rule of law. This is the context I am using as I consider cases like this that have sentencing disparities, which is why I have extended the deadline for clemency applications until April 3rd. I will be making decisions on these cases throughout the remainder of my governorship.

Polis later announced he would wait until the Appeals Court had ruled on Peters’ case before he made a decision about a pardon.

On March 18, Trump wrote on Truth Social:

FREE TINA PETERS, A 73-YEAR-OLD WOMAN, WITH CANCER, GIVEN A NINE YEAR DEATH SENTENCE IN A COLORADO PRISON BY A DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR, JARED POLIS, AND A CORRUPT POLITICAL MACHINE, FOR EXPOSING FRAUD BY THE DEMOCRATS DURING THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. AGAIN, FREE TINA!

On March 23, Trump added:

For years, Democrats ignored Violent and Vicious Crime of all shapes, sizes, colors, and types. Violent Criminals who should have been locked up were allowed to attack again. Democrats were also far too happy to let in the worst from the worst countries so they could rip off American Taxpayers. Democrats only think there is one crime – Not voting for them! Instead of protecting Americans and their Tax Dollars, Democrats chose instead to prosecute anyone they can find that wanted Safe and Secure Elections. Democrats have been relentless in their targeting of TINA PETERS, a Patriot who simply wanted to make sure that our Elections were Fair and Honest. Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the “crime” of demanding Honest Elections. FREE TINA!

READ MORE from the New York Times.

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