Colorado Gov. Polis reduces sentence of Trump ally Tina Peters : NPR

DENVER — Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis has reduced the state prison sentence of Tina Peters, a former county clerk convicted of tampering with election equipment, allowing her to be eligible for parole on June 1.

The controversial decision follows a months-long pressure campaign from President Trump and his administration to free Peters from state custody.

In April, a state appeals court upheld Peters’ 2024 conviction but ruled that she should be re-sentenced, saying that the trial court judge who issued her nearly nine-year sentence improperly factored in her protected speech.

Peters was convicted for her role in facilitating a security breach of Mesa County’s voting machines when she was clerk and recorder. The incident occurred six months after the 2020 election, as part of her effort to prove Trump’s baseless claims of a rigged election.

Peters’ conviction and sentence have stood out because legal efforts to hold Trump and many other allies accountable for attempts to overturn that election have faltered.

Peters claimed that the trial judge in Grand Junction, Matthew Barrett, violated her First Amendment rights when he strongly rebuked Peters during sentencing, with a blistering critique of her actions and attitude, saying that she was an attention-seeking former official who only thinks about herself. He said she was continuing to push false claims about rigged voting machines and a stolen election.

“You are no hero,” Barrett told Peters in 2024. “You’re a charlatan who used, and is still using, your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that’s been proven to be junk time and time again.”

Polis’ decision stands to be deeply unpopular among Democrats and election officials in the state, who urged him not to issue a commutation. However, he said that he focused on the facts, not whether he agreed with Peters.

“And in this case there is absolutely both the appearance and frankly, I believe the likelihood that her speech was considered in her sentencing,” Polis said in an interview with Colorado Public Radio from the governor’s office. Polis said he was effectively cutting her sentence in half to four and a half years. She was sentenced on Oct. 3, 2024, so that means on June 1, she will have spent more than 600 days incarcerated.

“It’s about doing what’s right. Even though of course I disagree with her speech just as the judge incorrectly stated that he did. But that’s not a factor in, it should not be a factor in the sentencing,” he added.

Polis, who is in his last year as governor due to term limits, maintains that his decision is not an effort to curry favor with Trump, who has referred to Peters as a hostage “being held in a Colorado prison by the Democrats, for political reasons,” and at one point said state leaders should “rot in hell.” Trump issued a pardon to Peters in December that was considered symbolic, because a president doesn’t have jurisdiction over state-level crimes.

Polis said he would continue to push back against any illegal attempt by the president to pardon Peters.

“This is not a pardon. It’s really making sure that her free speech was not a criteria for her overly harsh sentencing. So I really think that in the scheme of things, this will take the wind out of the sails of those who argued that there was something awry here,” Polis said.

Political pressure on Polis

Initially it appeared Polis would resist Trump administration efforts to help Peters.

Last March, in response to word that some Republican leaders in Colorado wanted the Trump administration to withhold federal funding to the state to force a pardon from Polis, the governor’s office said he would only consider a clemency application on its own merits, “regardless of bullying and threats.” Later the state Department of Corrections denied a request to move Peters to federal custody.

But then in January of this year, Polis appeared to express concerns about the length of her sentence. In an interview with CPR News at the time, he said, “absolutely, her sentence stands out” when compared to other people who have been convicted for nonviolent, first-time offenses. He made a similar comparison on social media on March 3.

Polis told CPR he thoughtfully reviews the hundreds of applications for clemency and pardons his office receives.

“And in my final year as governor, I do want to lean into the value of mercy and do what we can to give people a second chance,” he said.

On Friday, Polis said in her clemency application Peters admitted to making a mistake, which is not something she’s publicly stated.

“And then critically, she understands and has committed in this process to following the law going forward. I don’t believe her beliefs will change. I think she’s going to say nutty things. I think she’s going to believe in different things that are demonstrably false, but that’s not a crime in our country,” he said.

Colorado Democrats and election officials from across the political spectrum have told Polis that commuting Peters’ sentence would amount to a capitulation to Trump. Democrats have said it won’t stop Trump’s attacks on the state that they have linked to Peters, like moving to strip federal funding or shut down entities like the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.

“I don’t think that anything that we do is going to change Trump’s mind,” said Democratic state Rep. Kyle Brown. “I do not support the idea of clemency for Tina Peters. Tina Peters put our elections at risk and I believe that she needs to suffer the consequences of those actions.”

Brown’s stance has been echoed by state Attorney General Phil Weiser and Sen. Michael Bennet, both Democrats running to succeed Polis.

Election clerks in Colorado have said Peters has shown no remorse and will likely push others to act illegally if given the opportunity.

“Doing the right thing still matters,” said Routt County Clerk Jenny Thomas, who’s politically unaffiliated, during an earlier effort by the Trump administration to move Peters to federal custody. “Uphold the justice that was earned under Colorado law, keep her in Colorado custody. If you don’t, you are telling every clerk in this state that the threats we face don’t matter.”

Peters’ legal team maintains she has been targeted, as other Trump supporters have been.

“Tina Peters is a proud American, and she’s not embarrassed or ashamed in any way. She’s proud of what she’s done because she’s not a criminal,” said Peters’ attorney Peter Ticktin, in an earlier interview. “She’s just a good person.”