BREAKING: Tina Peters to be freed from Colorado prison June 1

Colorado Governor Jared Polis has commuted the sentence of Tina Peters, ordering that she be released from prison on June 1. The former Mesa County clerk had been sentenced to nine years in prison. Polis in January had said that he was considering clemency for Peters.

Polis told the Colorado Sun on Friday, "She, because of her incorrect and unpopular speech, got an unduly harsh sentence." He added, "I’m not pardoning her. I publicly have said very early on I would not even consider a pardon. She’s a convicted felon. She deserves to be a convicted felon. She will remain a convicted felon."

During the 2020 election, Peters was a county clerk in Colorado when she was charged with using someone else's badge to allow someone to gain access to the equipment involved with Dominion Voting Systems. At the time, Peters said that they were looking for evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election.  

In April, an appeals court upheld her conviction, however, the court ordered that Peters be resentenced. The court wrote, "The trial court’s comments about Peters’s belief in the existence of 2020 election fraud went beyond relevant considerations for her sentencing." 

“Her 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.”

"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 appeals court 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."

Peters was part of a group of 44 individuals for whom the governor issued pardons or commutations on Friday. Polis said, "The Clemency power is a serious responsibility, and not one that I take lightly. This power has the ability to change lives - help grant a second chance for someone who has made grave mistakes - and it comes with great consideration, and sometimes even controversy. That’s why I’ve taken the time needed to carefully review and deliberate on these applications, and carefully consider input from victims and family members impacted, law enforcement, and those in the justice system who worked on these cases."

Peters was convicted in August of 2024 of three counts of attempting to influence a public official, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, official misconduct, violation of duty, and failure to comply with an order of the Secretary of State.