{"id":464,"date":"2026-05-16T07:03:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T07:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=464"},"modified":"2026-05-16T07:03:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T07:03:43","slug":"election-denier-tina-peters-set-for-release-after-colorado-governor-commutes-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=464","title":{"rendered":"Election denier Tina Peters set for release after Colorado governor commutes sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced Friday that he\u2019s commuting the prison sentence of Tina Peters, a former county clerk and 2020 election denier who was sentenced to nine years behind bars for tampering with election equipment.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s flavored vape push sparks backlash from some MAHA influencers and administration officials<\/a><\/p>\n

Polis, a Democrat, wrote in an executive order that Peters \u201cis granted parole effective June 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters thanked the governor in a statement released by her lawyer Peter Ticktin, and also expressed remorse for her actions for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made mistakes, and for those I am sorry. Five years ago I misled the Secretary of State when allowing a person to gain access to county voting equipment. That was wrong,\u201d she said. \u201cI have learned and grown during my time in prison and going forward I will make sure that my actions always follow the law, and I will avoid the mistakes of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commutation comes after a state appeals court found last month that Peters\u2019 lengthy sentence was improper and directed she be resentenced.<\/p>\n

Peters\u2019 cause had been repeatedly championed by President Donald Trump, who has posted \u201cFree Tina Peters\u201d numerous times on his social media site and blasted Polis as a \u201csleazebag\u201d who should \u201crot in hell\u201d for not using his power as governor to free the former Mesa County clerk.<\/p>\n

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat and the state\u2019s top election official, told NBC News in a brief phone interview Friday, \u201cI believe the clemency grant is an affront to our democracy, the people of Colorado and election officials across the county.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo official should bow down to retaliation from Donald Trump,\u201d she said, adding she\u2019s concerned the move will \u201cembolden\u201delection denialists.<\/p>\n

The commutation was also criticized by Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who wrote in a post on X that \u201cI vehemently disagree\u201d with the commutation. Peters, he wrote, \u201cbroke the law, undermined our elections, and was convicted by a jury of her peers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Trump continuing to attack Colorado, we must stand strong for our institutions and the rule of law,\u201d added Bennet, who is running for governor.<\/p>\n

The term-limited Polis said in a statement on Facebook that he was standing for the rule of law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe based on the facts of the case that her sentence is simply disproportionate for a first time, non-violent offender. It\u2019s one of my bedrock beliefs that our laws should be applied fairly, and I simply do not believe that was what happened in this case,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be clear, I am not pardoning Tina Peters, and I have never considered a pardon. Tina Peters violated state law and broke the public trust by lying to the Secretary of State and illegally accessing a computer room in 2021 prior to a software update. Her actions were clearly illegal, wrong, and financially costly to Mesa County, and Colorado,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cTina Peters will remain a convicted felon for her crimes. I am simply correcting what I see as the error the trial court made by sentencing her to nearly nine years in prison,\u201d Polis said. <\/p>\n

Polis told CBS News in January he thought Peters\u2019 sentence was \u201charsh\u201d but that he wouldn\u2019t let his clemency decisions be driven by presidential directives.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump says ISIS second-in-command was killed in a joint U.S.-Nigerian mission<\/a><\/p>\n

Peters was convicted of four felony and three misdemeanor charges in August 2024 for using another person\u2019s security badge to allow someone associated with MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, a prominent election denier, access to county election equipment involving Dominion Voting Systems.<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s machines had to be replaced afterward when data, including passwords for the machines, was posted online.<\/p>\n

Polis indicated in a March post on X that he was considering cutting Peters\u2019 sentence short in light of a much shorter sentence that had been handed down on a similar charge against a Democratic politician.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustice in Colorado and America needs to be applied evenly,\u201d he wrote in the post.<\/p>\n

At her sentencing in 2024, District Attorney Daniel Rubinstein asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence, while noting that despite Peters\u2019 claims of widespread fraud, she never identified a single bogus vote.<\/p>\n

County officials said Peters\u2019 fraud claims led to a slew of death threats against election workers.<\/p>\n

Peters maintained she had done nothing wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with a heavy heart that I hear the vile accusations and anger levied against me for what I did to protect the people of Mesa County,\u201d she told the judge at her sentencing.<\/p>\n

In their April 2 ruling, a panel of Colorado Court of Appeals judges found the judge who\u2019d sentenced Peters put too much weight on Peters\u2019 beliefs about election being stolen, violating her First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer 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. Indeed, under these circumstances, just as her purported beliefs underlying her motive for her actions were not relevant to her defense, the trial court should not have considered those beliefs relevant when imposing sentence,\u201d the appeals court ruled.<\/p>\n

It also noted that Peters was out of office and \u201cno longer in a position to engage in the conduct that led to her conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n

They directed the trial judge, Matthew Branch, to resentence her \u2014 without consideration of her comments on the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

Griswold said Friday that the governor should have waited for the resentencing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court system was working,\u201d she said. \u201cTina Peters should not get special treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her statement Friday, Peters said that after she\u2019s released \u201cI plan to do my best through legal means to support election integrity and based on my own personal experiences to elevate the cause of prison reform to help ensure the detention system is more fair and equitable for people of all ages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am grateful for a second chance and an earlier release, and I look forward to doing good in the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Read more Supreme Court rejects Virginia\u2019s bid to restore congressional map favoring Democrats<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democratic Gov. Jared Polis had previously called Peters\u2019 nine-year prison sentence \u201charsh.\u201d President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded she be\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elections"],"yoast_head":"\nElection denier Tina Peters set for release after Colorado governor commutes sentence - Jacksonville Moving News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=464\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Election denier Tina Peters set for release after Colorado governor commutes sentence - Jacksonville Moving News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Democratic Gov. 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