Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters will remain in prison after a judge rejected her latest request to be released on bond during her appeal process.
Peters, 70, was convicted of a total of seven counts, including several felonies, related to election fraud and misconduct and sentenced to nine years incarceration in October 2024 after improperly allowing an unauthorized person to enter a secure area of the Mesa County Elections Division in May 2021 to make copies of computer hard drives in search of election fraud, and misleading officials in the process.
No election fraud related to the 2020 election was ever found in Mesa County.
Peters is being held at La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo, with an estimated parole eligibility date of Oct. 22, 2028.
Peters has maintained she was simply doing her duty as the Mesa County elections official, and that her prosecution was politically motivated and violated her First Amendment rights by punishing her for statements she made about the validity of the 2020 elections.
Peters was indicted by a grand jury and prosecuted by District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, a Republican, who has maintained Peters’ prosecution wasn’t political.
The Colorado Court of Appeals remanded the case back to Judge Matthew Barrett in early April after finding some of his language while handing down her sentencing indicated he improperly considered Peters’ protected free speech. The appeals court did affirm her convictions, though, and did not say her new sentence has to be less than before.
Peters will likely appeal her convictions to the Colorado Supreme Court.
During that process, she will remain in prison via an April 29 order from Barrett that noted Peters is not unlikely to flee, and that any future appeals on her part would be frivolous.
“Now that she is post-conviction and serving a prison term, the risk of flight and incentive to flee, should she be released, increases dramatically. This reality, coupled with her access to private jets, history of non-compliance with her conditions of bond and the degree of her lack of accountability make it plain to me that, despite her consistent appearances previously, I cannot conclude she is unlikely to flee,” Barrett wrote.
Barrett continued, “Moreover, and based on the ample record supporting the same, I cannot conclude that 1) any future appeals would be anything other than frivolous and 2) not for the purpose of delay. Defendant has already lost on almost all material issues on appeal.”
Barrett noted Peters has repeatedly tried to delay her proceedings.
“Of course, Defendant is free to contest her convictions, but the light continues to dim on the likelihood of success,” he wrote. “And I can say with fair confidence that many of her arguments for appellate relief are meritless.”
