Former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters has been released from prison, according to a statement by the Colorado Department of Corrections. Peters was freed after Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence and ordered her released on parole.
The CDOC did not release any details, and Peters was not seen by the dozen reporters and photographers stationed outside the La Vista Correctional Facility.
Peters was convicted of several felonies and misdemeanors and sentenced in 2024 to nearly nine years in prison for her role in tampering with Mesa County’s voting machines months after the 2020 presidential election in search of evidence of election rigging. Polis commuted her sentence last month, in a controversial decision that led to immediate backlash from state officials.
Polis said Peters’ sentence was overly harsh and inappropriate and that he agreed with a decision from the Colorado Court of Appeals that her election-denying beliefs impacted the length of her sentence. The appeals court ordered her re-sentenced, but Polis’ commutation negates that.
“She committed a crime,” Polis told CPR News on May 15, the day he commuted her sentence. Polis made it clear he was not issuing a pardon. He said Peters deserves to be a felon for life.
“The issue is really whether her free speech, her incorrect and free speech around election conspiracy theories was held against her in sentencing,” he said.
In an extraordinary move the Democratic state party censured Polis and banned him from speaking at party functions and called the commutation reckless. Peters is appealing her conviction to the Colorado Supreme Court. She has said she will also do her best through legal means to support election integrity. Allies of President Donald Trump have hailed her as a hero, and Trump has repeatedly and personally pushed for her release frequently writing “FREE TINA” on social media.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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