A Colorado appeals court has overturned former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters’ 9-year sentence and ordered her to be resentenced.
Peters was previously prosecuted and imprisoned for her role in a 2021 security breach of the county’s election systems that stemmed from her efforts to access and copy data from the county’s voting machines. She was subsequently sentenced to nine years in prison in October of 2024.
Peters orchestrated the breach to try to find evidence of vote manipulation. She was motivated by her belief that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from current President Donald Trump.
JUST IN: A federal judge throws the book at voting machine whistleblower Tina Peters.
The Colorado woman, a Gold Star mom, was sentenced to 9 YEARS for her role documenting Domin*on Voting Machine files before they could be *DELETED.*
*TRAVESTY.*pic.twitter.com/lslRM7kykl
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) October 3, 2024
In a ruling issued Thursday morning, the Colorado Court of Appeals overturned her sentence but upheld her conviction.
The sentence was overturned “because it was based in part on improper consideration of her exercise of her right to free speech,” the court ruled.
The judges noted that the lower court judge who’d imposed the sentence had argued that keeping her locked up for so long was necessary to prevent her from sharing/spreading her election conspiracies.
“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,’” the judges wrote. “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,” they added.
However, the judges rejected Peters’ other arguments, such as the claim that President Donald Trump has the authority to pardon her.
‘FREE TINA!’ Trump demands Tina Peters be released from Colorado prison https://t.co/qYsLxU36ku
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) March 22, 2026
One of Peters’ attorneys, John Case, praised the court for recognizing his client’s free speech rights.
“Tina Peters was punished for words that she used to criticize our insecure and illegal voting system,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “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.”
But another one of her attorneys, Peter Ticktin, slammed the overall ruling as “terribly disappointing.”
“Unfortunately, the Colorado Court of Appeals just kicked the can down the road rather than to do the honest responsible thing and give her a new trial, after her kangaroo trial,” Ticktin said in an email to The Colorado Sun. “She remains in prison after 549 days.”
Attorney General Phil Weiser, a rabid Democrat, meanwhile, used the ruling to impugn Peters’ character.
“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,” he said in a ruthless statement.
“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. Nothing will remove that stain,” he added.
The irony is that his superior, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, had been among those potentially supportive of clemency for Peters.
“She got a sentence that was harsh,” he told a CBS News affiliate in January. “It was a nine-year sentence. So we always look at people’s sentences.”
He also cited Peters’ age. She’s 70.
“When you have people that are elderly, and we’re looking at this across a number of many people — people in their 70s or 80s in our system — how much of a threat to society are they and how do we balance that in a way that makes sure they can spend their last year, few years at home,” he said.
If Peters applies the ruling, the case is likely headed to the Supreme Court. If not, she’ll be resentenced sometime after 42 days.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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