Colorado court orders resentencing for Tina Peters, election clerk backed by Trump

A Colorado appeals court on Thursday ruled that Tina Peters, a former elections clerk who was the first local official convicted over efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election, should be resentenced.

Peters, who served as a clerk in Mesa County, was sentenced to nine years in prison after being convicted on seven of the 10 counts she faced. Prosecutors said she snuck in a man associated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a staunch Trump ally, to make a copy of the county’s voter systems, in aim of exposing alleged fraud.

Judges on the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court wrongly weighed Peters’s continued promotion of 2020 election fraud conspiracy theories in deciding her sentence.

“We reverse her sentence because it was based in part on improper consideration of her exercise of her right to free speech,” the court wrote, sending her case back to the trial judge for resentencing.

At her 2024 sentencing, District Judge Matthew Barrett criticized Peters for her apparent lack of remorse, calling her a “charlatan” who abused her role to “peddle snake oil.” Before she was sentenced, she insisted her efforts were in service of the greater good.

“I am convinced you would do it all over again if you could,” the judge said. “You’re as defiant as any defendant this court has ever seen.”

Because Peters’s conviction was on state charges, only Colorado’s Democratic governor has the power to grant her a pardon. But President Trump issued her a symbolic pardon last year, attributing it to her efforts to “expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election.” There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

The Trump administration also sought to transfer Peters from state to federal custody, but its request was denied.

The Colorado appeals court declined to upend Peters’s conviction and formally rejected the notion that the president has the power to pardon an individual for state law offenses.

“The crux of Peters’s argument is that the phrase ‘Offences against the United States’ includes an offense against any of the states in the union,” the court wrote. “We join what appears to us to be every other appellate court that has addressed the issue and reject such an expansive reading of the phrase.”

Trump for months has pressured Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) to free Peters, threatening “harsh measures” if he fails to pardon her.

Polis has indicated he could be open to clemency for Peters, but those comments drew strong pushback from his fellow Democrats.

In a statement, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) called Trump’s attempt to pardon Peters “unlawful” and said her actions have been used to “spread conspiracy theories, amplify falsehoods and fuel dangerous election lies.”

“Peters should not receive any special treatment as the District Court considers re-sentencing,” she said. 

Peters was convicted on three counts of attempting to influence a public servant and one count each of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failure to comply with the requirements of the secretary of state.

Updated at 12:45 p.m. EDT.

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