Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced Friday that he’s 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.
Polis, a Democrat, wrote in an executive order that Peters “is granted parole effective June 1.”
Peters thanked the governor in a statement released by her lawyer Peter Ticktin, and also expressed remorse for her actions for the first time.
“I 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,” she said. “I 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.”
The commutation comes after a state appeals court found last month that Peters’ lengthy sentence was improper and directed she be resentenced.
Peters’ cause had been repeatedly championed by President Donald Trump, who has posted “Free Tina Peters” numerous times on his social media site, including Friday, and blasted Polis as a “sleazebag” who should “rot in hell” for not using his power as governor to free the former Mesa County clerk.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat and the state’s top election official, told NBC News in a brief phone interview Friday, “I believe the clemency grant is an affront to our democracy, the people of Colorado and election officials across the county.”
“No official should bow down to retaliation from Donald Trump,” she said, adding she’s concerned the move will “embolden” election denialists.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement Saturday that Polis’ commutation of Peters’ sentence “is mind-boggling and wrong as a matter of basic justice.”
“Caving in to this president will only lead to more abuse from the bullying Trump administration. Today is a sad day for Colorado and the rule of law,” Weiser said, adding that it was an “unwise and unprecedented step” for Peters to be released early.
The commutation was also criticized by Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who wrote in a post on X that “I vehemently disagree” with the commutation. Peters, he wrote, “broke the law, undermined our elections, and was convicted by a jury of her peers.”
“With Trump continuing to attack Colorado, we must stand strong for our institutions and the rule of law,” added Bennet, who is running for governor.
The term-limited Polis said in a statement on Facebook that he was standing for the rule of law.
“I believe based on the facts of the case that her sentence is simply disproportionate for a first time, non-violent offender. It’s 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,” he wrote.
“To 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,” he added.
“Tina 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,” Polis said.
Polis told CBS News in January he thought Peters’ sentence was “harsh” but that he wouldn’t let his clemency decisions be driven by presidential directives.
Peters was convicted of four felony and three misdemeanor charges in August 2024 for using another person’s security badge to allow someone associated with MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, a prominent election denier, access to county election equipment involving Dominion Voting Systems.
The county’s machines had to be replaced afterward when data, including passwords for the machines, was posted online.
Polis indicated in a March post on X that he was considering cutting Peters’ sentence short in light of a much shorter sentence that had been handed down on a similar charge against a Democratic politician.
“Justice in Colorado and America needs to be applied evenly,” he wrote in the post.
At her sentencing in 2024, District Attorney Daniel Rubinstein asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence, while noting that despite Peters’ claims of widespread fraud, she never identified a single bogus vote.
County officials said Peters’ fraud claims led to a slew of death threats against election workers.
Peters maintained she had done nothing wrong.
“It 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,” she told the judge at her sentencing.
In their April 2 ruling, a panel of Colorado Court of Appeals judges found the judge who’d sentenced Peters put too much weight on Peters’ beliefs about election being stolen, violating her First Amendment rights.
“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 appeals court ruled.
It also noted that Peters was out of office and “no longer in a position to engage in the conduct that led to her conviction.”
They directed the trial judge, Matthew Branch, to resentence her — without consideration of her comments on the 2020 election.
Griswold said Friday that the governor should have waited for the resentencing.
“The court system was working,” she said. “Tina Peters should not get special treatment.”
In her statement Friday, Peters said that after she’s released “I 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.”
“I am grateful for a second chance and an earlier release, and I look forward to doing good in the world,” she said.
