Tina Peters Scores Massive Legal Victory In 2020 Election Witch-Hunt

A Colorado appeals court just blew up a nine-year prison sentence handed to former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters, ruling the trial judge crossed the line by factoring in her views on the 2020 election.

In a 77-page decision, a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals said the lower court improperly weighed Peters’ speech when deciding her punishment, even as it upheld her conviction tied to a voting system breach.

“The trial court’s comments about Peters’s belief in the existence of 2020 election fraud went beyond relevant considerations for her sentencing,” the panel wrote.

The judges made clear the issue wasn’t what Peters believed, but what she did.

“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,” the ruling said. “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.”

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The panel said it was “apparent” that the trial court let those views drive the harsh sentence.

“The tenor of the court’s comments makes clear that it felt the sentence length was necessary, at least in part, to prevent her from continuing to espouse views the court deemed ‘damaging.’”

That rationale didn’t hold up, the appeals court said, noting Peters no longer holds office.

“But the court failed to acknowledge that Peters is no longer the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder,” the judges wrote. “She is no longer in a position to engage in the conduct that led to her conviction. So it cannot be said that the lengthy prison sentence was for specific deterrence. To the contrary, the sentence punished Peters for her persistence in espousing her beliefs regarding the integrity of the 2020 election.”

The court ordered the case sent back to Judge Matthew Branch for a new sentencing — this time without factoring in Peters’ statements about the election.

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