And before you all go off on me for the headline, it's in quotes, and it's not me.
It's how NBC News is framing what just happened.
I got a screenshot because I'm not quite sure that some cooler head isn't going to rethink this and send the original headline into the ether.
Tina Peters had her moment before this appeals court panel back in January, and it was obvious to observers and the Associated Press that there were serious issues with how the trial judge at the district court level had handled the sentencing.
...The three-judge panel was dismissive of many of the arguments made by Peters’ attorneys. But they grilled the state’s lawyer over the trial judge reciting Peters’ false statements about elections in handing down her sentence.
“The court cannot punish her for her First Amendment rights,” Appeals Judge Craig Welling said.
...Peters didn’t deny the deception but said she had to do it to make sure election records weren’t erased. She claims she should not have been prosecuted because she had a duty under federal law to preserve them — a contention that drew sharp skepticism from Wednesday’s panel.
Instead, the three judges all expressed concern about District Court Judge Matthew Barrett’s statements during Peters’ sentencing. He called her a “charlatan” and said she posed a danger to the community for spreading lies about voting and undermining the democratic process.
...[Senior Assistant Attorney General Lisa] Michaels contended that Barrett made clear in the sentencing that he was imposing a sentencing her for the specific crimes she was convicted of at trial. But the elements of one of those, a felony conviction for criminal impersonation, was improperly presented to the jury with language for the misdemeanor version of the crime, another element of her case that alarmed the panel’s judges.
While the Colorado Court of Appeals ultimately upheld Peters' convictions, the three judges deciding the appeal were quite clear that they felt the District Court trial judge, Matthew Barrett, had overstepped during sentencing, allowing Peters' First Amendment rights to be violated and used in determining her sentence.
The first paragraph in today's NBC News report calls Peters an 'election denier' again for good measure.
The Colorado Court of Appeals has thrown out election denier Tina Peters' nine-year prison sentence, finding that the lower court violated her First Amendment right to free speech related to her allegations of election fraud.
“The trial court’s comments about Peters’s belief in the existence of 2020 election fraud went beyond relevant considerations for her sentencing,” a three-judge panel wrote in a 77-page opinion that also upheld her conviction on charges including official misconduct in connection with a security breach of Mesa County’s voting system.
“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. 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.”
This was really a blistering slap down of the original trial judge, whom the panel basically accuses of packing Peters away for much longer than the crimes themselves warranted in order to keep her from speaking her mind and sharing her constitutionally protected beliefs.
..."Peters contends that the trial court violated her First Amendment right under the United States Constitution and her right under article II, section 10 of the Colorado Constitution because it punished her based on her protected speech regarding allegations of election fraud. We agree," the opinion, authored by Chief Judge Gilbert M. Román, read, in part.
...The appeals court ruled that the lower court's comments about Peters's statements regarding election fraud "went beyond relevant considerations for her sentencing," saying that her crime wasn't her beliefs, but her actions. The appeals court said many of the district judge's comments were legal and appropriate, but some went beyond what were appropriate and can be interpreted "only as the infliction of punishment because of Peters's beliefs and statements."
"It is apparent that the court imposed the lengthy sentence it did because Peters continued to espouse the views that led her to commit these crimes," the appeals court ruling continued. "For these reasons, we conclude that the trial court obviously erred by imposing sentence at least partially based on Peters's protected speech."
The appeals court also ruled that it lacked authority to grant Peters release and that such a request must be made through a habeas corpus petition to the court that sentenced her.
One of the true villains in the set piece, who has her own very sketchy election-related issues, is Colorado Secretary of State Gena Griswald. This vile, TDS-infected creature could not wait to run her mouth about Peters, and there is no love lost between these two.
...“Today, the Appeals Court affirmed Peters’ conviction, and I am appreciative of their rejection of Trump’s unlawful attempt to pardon her. Peters will continue to face accountability for coordinating a breach of her own election equipment. Her actions have been repeatedly used to spread conspiracy theories, amplify falsehoods, and fuel dangerous election lies. Peters should not receive any special treatment as the District Court considers re-sentencing,” said Secretary of State Jena Griswold.
But there is every reason to believe that a proper, commensurate sentence will be imposed, if not an outright clemency deal worked out for the older woman. Governor Jared Polis has been signaling a softer tone in some of his statements... and catching hell for it from the Left.
...This ruling comes following lengthy discussions of clemency, pardons, and prisoner swaps. President Trump has called for Peters to be released from prison on several occasions, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has also hinted at offering clemency to the embattled former clerk.
Polis compared Peters’s sentence to that of former state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis; both were charged with attempting to influence a public official. Peters also faced several other charges, including impersonation, violation of duty and official misconduct.
The former State Senator Lewis received two years' probation as her sentence.
Tina Peters has been in jail for the past year and a half, having been taken into custody immediately after her sentencing in October of 2024.
At the moment, it remains to be seen what happens next, as everything returns to the district court for resentencing, though it will not be returning to Judge Barrett's courtroom.
John Case, one of Peters' lawyers, said they'll most likely be asking for time served.
...“Tina Peters was punished for words that she used to criticize our insecure and illegal voting system,” Case said. “The decision affirms that people are free to speak what they believe in Colorado as well as the rest of the United States of America.”
Case said he would likely ask at resentencing for Peters to receive the approximately 540 days she’s served already. That would allow her to be freed.
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who has been considering granting clemency to Peters, praised the court’s decision for rejecting Trump’s pardon but upholding her free speech rights.
“This case has been very challenging and a true test of our resolve as a state to have a fair judicial system, not just for people we agree with but a fair system for Coloradans that we vehemently disagree with,” Polis said in statement.
That would spare Governor Polis the need to make a politically charged, but hugely unpopular decision with his rabidly progressive base.
I mean, they're already whining.
NEW: In a huge setback for efforts to hold accountable those working to undermine fair elections, a Colorado appeals court ruled that election denier Tina Peters — who was sentenced to nine years in prison for her role in a 2021 voting system breach — should be resentenced.…
— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) April 2, 2026
Polis is not big on conflict, and with President Trump breathing down his neck on the other side of the coin, you know he's going to nudge this along to a conclusion as swiftly as he can, if he can. 'Time served' would serve him and Peters well.
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