Colorado Appeals Court Orders New Sentence for Former Elections Official Tina Peters
Colorado appeals court ruled Tina Peters was improperly sentenced and should receive new sentencing, though conviction upholds her original conviction.
Objective Facts
Tina Peters was convicted of state crimes for sneaking in an outside computer expert to make a copy of her county's election computer system during a software update in 2021. The Colorado Court of Appeals upheld her conviction, but said that a judge should not have considered Peters' continued promotion of election fraud conspiracies when he sentenced her in 2024, and sent Peters' case back to a lower court for a judge to issue a new sentence. Peters' sentence, handed down in October 2024, was "based in part on improper consideration of her exercise of her right to free speech," according to a panel of three appellate judges in their unanimous 78-page opinion. The court affirmed Trump's attempt to pardon Peters was "meaningless" since presidential pardons don't extend to state crimes.
Left-Leaning Perspective
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, whose office helped prosecute the case, said Peters' original sentence was "fair and appropriate" and that "Ms. Peters is in prison because of her own criminal conduct to prove false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 elections, and she has not shown any remorse for her actions," concluding "Tina Peters will always be a convicted felon who violated her duty as Mesa County clerk, put other lives at risk, and threatened our democracy". A Colorado Sun columnist argued that if readers didn't make it past the headlines, they might think Peters won a major victory when the appeals court overturned her sentence, but "She didn't. She lost. Bigly." The columnist noted the court, rejecting Peters' motions for appeal, confirmed the case had been tried fairly and convictions held, with Attorney General Weiser stating "Whatever happens with her sentence, Tina Peters will always be a convicted felon who violated her duty as Mesa County clerk, put other lives at risk and threatened our democracy". Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold stated she was "appreciative" of the appeals court's "rejection of Trump's unlawful attempt to pardon" Peters and that "Peters will continue to face accountability for coordinating a breach of her own election equipment" whose "actions have been repeatedly used to spread conspiracy theories, amplify falsehoods, and fuel dangerous election lies".
Right-Leaning Perspective
Peters' lawyer John Case argued the court's ruling affirmed the importance of free speech, stating "Tina Peters was punished for words that she used to criticize our insecure and illegal voting system" and "The decision affirms that people are free to speak what they believe in Colorado as well as the rest of the United States of America". Peters' attorney Peter Ticktin said he was "terribly disappointed" in the ruling and called his client "an American hero," stating "The Colorado Court of Appeals got it all wrong except for the obvious violation of Tina Peters' First Amendment rights and her sentence". Ticktin also criticized the court for not ordering a new trial, saying the court "kicked the can down the road rather than to do the honest responsible thing, and give her a new trial, after her kangaroo trial". Peters' defense characterized the case as protecting free speech rights to criticize voting systems, and indicated they would ask at resentencing for Peters to receive approximately 540 days credit for time served, "That would allow her to be freed".
Deep Dive
In 2021, Tina Peters, as Mesa County Clerk, authorized unauthorized access to the county's election computer system during a software update, and photos and videos of confidential voting system passwords were later posted on social media and a conservative website. President Donald Trump has sought unsuccessfully to pardon Peters and pressured Colorado to set her free, and Peters was unapologetic when sentenced in 2024 and insisted she tried to unearth what she believed was fraud for the greater good. The appeals court upheld her conviction but said the judge should not have considered her continued promotion of election fraud conspiracies when sentencing her, and sent the case back for resentencing. The left correctly argues that the appeals court found the sentence punished Peters for maintaining there was fraud in the 2020 election and concluded the trial court "obviously erred by imposing sentence at least partially based on Peters' protected speech", establishing a genuine First Amendment issue. However, prosecutors accurately note that the appeals court did not require the sentence be reduced, and the judge can issue the same sentence if he justifies it on proper non-First Amendment grounds, meaning the conviction and general sentence length remain legally viable. The right's invocation of free speech protection is facially valid but obscures that Peters' fundamental crime was unauthorized access to election systems, not merely her speech. The appeals court distinguished between Peters' belief in election fraud (not actionable) and her deceitful actions in attempting to gather evidence (her actual offense). A key unresolved tension is whether Governor Polis will use the resentencing as a gateway to clemency. Polis said in January he was considering granting clemency for Peters, calling her sentence "unusual and harsh" for a first-time non-violent offender, and in his statement after the ruling said the nine-year sentence was "an obvious outlier" and he would "focus on what is right, not what is popular", suggesting he may commute her sentence regardless of the resentencing outcome. The state has filed a lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of inflicting a revenge campaign, with federal agencies cutting millions of dollars in aid and grants to Colorado since Trump took office in 2025, and Weiser said much of the retaliation followed threats related to releasing Peters.