April 02, 2026 09:28 AM UTC

BREAKING: Peters Conviction Upheld, Resentencing Ordered

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Denver Post’s Shelly Bradbury and Seth Klamann report, this morning the Colorado Court of Appeals published its long-awaited ruling in the appeal by convicted former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters of her conviction on multiple felony counts related to a plot to steal data from voting machines and further conspiracy theories that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election:

The Colorado Court of Appeals threw out the nine-year sentence for discredited elections clerk Tina Peters on Thursday and ordered that she be re-sentenced by a district court judge.

The panel of three judges found that the original sentencing judge wrongly based part of the sentence on Peters’ exercise of her right to free speech, according to a 78-page opinion released Thursday…

[Peters] appealed both her convictions and the length of her prison sentence in a wide-ranging case that went before the Colorado Court of Appeals in January. The panel of three judges at that time expressed concerns about whether her prison term was fair, but appeared skeptical of overturning her convictions altogether.

The Colorado Court of Appeals rejected the bogus assertion of presidential pardon power over Peters’ conviction on state charges, and also the argument from Peters’ attorneys that she was exercising some kind of higher protected federal authority in suborning identity theft to allow unvetted election conspiracy theorists access to voting equipment. But as we suspected from the judge’s reactions to testimony in the appeals court hearing, they determined that Peters’ nine-year sentence was too harsh, and in violation of Peters’ constitutional right to believe whatever crackpot conspiracy theory she wants to.

In short, Tina Peters is still a convicted felon. That’s the crucial takeaway. But her case will go back to the trial court for reconsideration of her sentence. That process could result in a reduction of the nine-year sentence, of which she has already served about a year and a half. We’re not in a position to speculate about that outcome. But we do believe at this point it is very important for the trial court to carry out the resentencing process free of political interference.

Trump isn’t going to listen, of course. But Gov. Jared Polis needs to. Nothing in this decision is going to change Peters’ complete lack of remorse for her crimes, which Polis has stipulated must happen before he would consider commuting her sentence. Polis’ decision to let the appeals court rule before prematurely acting on the intense pressure from the White House was the right move. Now Polis has every good reason to let the court process play itself out.

The one victory Peters achieved today, validating her right to believe ridiculous things, is not the vindication her supporters think.