ROADBLOCK: Federal judge refuses to release pro-Trump clerk convicted in 2020 election case

December 9, 2025

From Fox News: A federal judge has refused to release a former Colorado clerk who was convicted of attempting to breach voting systems in hopes of proving President Donald Trump’s claims of election malfeasance in 2020.

The former clerk, 70-year-old Tina Peters, was sentenced to nine years in prison after a state jury convicted her of participating in a scheme to breach the Mesa County voting systems. Peters filed a lawsuit seeking her release earlier this year, arguing that her free speech rights had been violated, but Judge Scott Varholak rejected the move on Monday.

“Ms. Peters raises important constitutional questions concerning whether the trial court improperly punished her more severely because of her protected First Amendment speech,” Varholak wrote. “But because this question remains pending before Colorado courts, this Court must abstain from answering that question until after the Colorado courts have decided the issue.”

Peters, the only Trump ally to face prison time for 2020 election denial, has received significant support from the president.

Peters is a cancer survivor, and a “gold star” mother. Her son, a combat veteran and US Navy SEAL, was killed in 2017 at age 27 in a parachute accident while performing at an air show in New York City.

President Trump had requested in August that Peters be released from prison immediately. However, she was charged by the state of Colorado, and not by the federal government, so Trump is unable to pardon her. In September, Peters had posted a moving letter to Trump.

The Trump administration formally requested last month that the State of Colorado transfer Peters to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Last week, Gov. Polis rejected that request.

Trump has argued that Peters “was preserving Election Records, which she was obligated to do under Federal Law.”

Polis has vowed not to pardon Peters, and has declared he will not participate in “any scheme to prevent her from being held accountable under Colorado law.”