Tina Peters' attorneys ask appellate court to toss her conviction
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Tina Peters at an election event in 2022. Photo: by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images
Tina Peters' attorneys asked the Colorado Court of Appeals on Wednesday to reverse her conviction for tampering with voting equipment and set her free, as President Trump has demanded.
Why it matters: The former Mesa County clerk is one of the nation's most prominent election deniers and the first convicted for an election breach related to the 2020 election.
Driving the news: In oral arguments at the Denver courthouse, Peters' attorneys said District Court Judge Matthew Barrett erred repeatedly in the 2024 trial and showed his bias with an overly tough nine-year sentence.
- Peters' defense team is asking the three-judge panel to reverse the conviction, or at least declare her sentence unconstitutional, because the judge violated her First Amendment rights by punishing her for spreading lies about the election.
- Peters, who did not attend Wednesday's hearing, also contends she had a duty under federal law to protect the election data that superseded state law.
Inside the room: The three appellate judges, Craig Welling, Lino Lipinsky de Orlov, Ted Tow III — lobbed tough questions at both sides, but took particular note of Peters' sentence and the trial court judges' fiery remarks at her sentencing.
- "Why should we not be concerned that he focused on her continued peddling of 'snake oil,'" Tow asked during the roughly hour-long hearing.
What they're saying: Defense attorney John Case told Axios Denver after the hearing that evidence supports overturning her conviction on seven counts, including four felonies. At the very least, she deserves to be resentenced and released for time served as a first-time offender, he added.
- "The trial court violated her First Amendment rights, not to mention her Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment," Case said, referring to conditions in a Pueblo prison.
Catch up quick: Peters, now 70, allowed an unauthorized person to use a staffer's security badge and copy the county's voting system hard drive in 2021.
- A jury convicted her on three counts of attempting to influence a public official, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and failure to comply with state rules.
The intrigue: Trump took interest in her case and issued her a pardon in December, but that doesn't apply to state-level crimes.
- The president has made verbal attacks against Gov. Jared Polis and withheld federal dollars from Colorado in retaliation for not releasing her.
Polis recently appeared to capitulate to Trump by calling Peters' sentence "harsh" and suggesting he would consider commuting her sentence.
- Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Jena Griswold and two county clerks sent a letter to Polis demanding he not pardon Peters or commute her sentence, saying it would "embolden election denialism in Colorado and across the country."
What's next: The court is expected to issue a ruling in the case later this year.