DENVER (AP) — A federal judge on Monday rejected a bid by a former Colorado official to be released from prison as she appeals the state’s conviction for orchestrating a data breach scheme driven by false claims of voting machine fraud in the 2020 presidential race.
Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters has filed a federal lawsuit asking to be released on bail while her appeal is heard. Attorneys for the state argued that the case should be dismissed in part because of a legal doctrine that prevents federal courts from getting involved in pending state criminal cases.
Federal Judge Scott Varholak ruled Monday that Peters had not made out a case that she should be involved in overturning her state sentence.
Peters’ attorney, John Case, said in an emailed statement that they were disappointed by the ruling. He argued that Peters was innocent and that the voting machines could not be trusted.
“When Tina is released, and released on time, hopefully soon, it will mean we heal from the atrocities that befell Tina and the people of Colorado,” Case wrote.
A message left with the Colorado attorney general’s office seeking comment on the decision was not immediately returned Monday.
Trump and others have called for Peters’ release
Peters argued the judge should free her because she said the state judge who sentenced her to nine years behind bars violated her First Amendment rights. Peters argued he was punishing her for making allegations about voter fraud, but prosecutors argued the U.S. Supreme Court allows judges to consider people’s speech during sentencing if they think it’s relevant.
During Peters’ sentencing in October 2024, Judge Matthew Barrett called the defendant a “quack” and said he was a danger to the community for spreading lies about voting and undermining the democratic process.
Peters was unapologetic and insisted that everything he did was geared towards trying to root out what he believed to be fraud. She claimed that her actions were done for the greater good.
Her lawyers argued Barrett was wrong to call Peters’ statements “lies” and said there was no evidence her speech posed a danger.
President Donald Trump and other supporters, including retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the national security adviser during Trump’s first term, have called for Peters’ release. In August, Trump warned he would “take tough action” if Peters was not released, saying she was old and very sick.
“Get Tina Peters out of jail, RIGHT NOW. She’s done nothing wrong except catch Democrats cheating on elections,” Trump posted Aug. 21 on his Truth Social platform.
Flynn said Peters, 70, should be moved to federal custody because she could be a witness in a 2020 election investigation.
Colorado clerks say there is no evidence of widespread election fraud
The administration sent a letter to the Colorado prison system in mid-November asking that Peters be transferred to federal custody. One of her attorneys said he believed the request was made so Peters could be more easily implicated in the election investigation.
There is no evidence of any widespread fraud in Colorado’s election, which has been staunchly defended by county officials across the state, most of whom are Republicans. Peters was prosecuted by an elected Republican prosecutor, and her three conservative-leaning county supervisors also supported the case and defended the integrity of the state’s elections.
The US Department of Justice got involved in Peters’ federal case in March, saying “reasonable concerns” had been raised about her prosecution. He also said the DOJ was looking into whether the prosecution was “directed more toward the infliction of political pain than toward the pursuit of real justice or legitimate government goals,” a line from an executive order titled “Ending Harmonization of the Federal Government” that Trump signed shortly after his inauguration.
The state objected to the federal government’s insertion, saying the department’s filing in the case appeared to be an “empty political attempt” to intimidate the court or Peters’ prosecutors. He unsuccessfully asked the court to dismiss it.
Peters’ lawyers highlighted three cases in which federal judges ordered people convicted of state crimes released from prison while they appealed, including one involving free speech. In that 1977 case, a judge freed the late Native American activist Russell Means after he was placed back behind bars because he remained active in the American Indian Movement while out on bail from state custody. The state court largely barred him from participating in the group. The federal judge ruled that this was an unconstitutional limit on his First Amendment right to free speech and association.
Peters challenged her imprisonment under a constitutional provision known as habeas corpus.
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Associated Press writer Mead Gruver in Fort Collins, Colo., contributed to this report.