Colorado appeals court panel questions severity of Tina Peters' sentence
A trio of Colorado judges in a hearing Wednesday brushed aside the most sweeping arguments made by attorneys for former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters in her appeal of her criminal convictions — but the panel expressed serious concerns about a procedural error in one of her felony charges and the overall fairness of her sentence.
The oral arguments presented by Peters’ attorneys and the state attorney general’s office to the Colorado Court of Appeals, the state’s second-highest court, were the latest episode in a scattershot campaign of legal maneuvering and political coercion seeking the release of the prominent election conspiracy theorist, who is serving a nine-year sentence in state prison for her role in a 2021 breach of her office’s secure voting equipment.
A Mesa County jury convicted Peters on multiple felony counts in a 2024 trial during which the county’s former top elections official continued to spread conspiracy theories about voting machines, including in a rambling 40-minute statement just before her sentencing.
But Judges Craig Welling, Ted Tow III and Lino Lipinsky de Orlov of the appellate court raised concerns about that trial during Wednesday’s hearing, questioning whether an improper jury instruction led to Peters’ conviction on a felony charge despite drawing language from a misdemeanor statute. More broadly, the panel appeared sympathetic to arguments made by Peters’ attorneys that her sentencing — which followed statements made by presiding District Court Judge Matthew Barrett calling Peters a “charlatan” who peddled “snake oil” — violated her right to free speech.
https://coloradonewsline.com/2026/01/14/colorado-court-tina-peters-sentence/