Tina Peters, the former clerk embroiled in an election conspiracy case linked to former President Donald Trump, was released from prison on Monday. This development came after Colorado’s Democratic Governor, Jared Polis, commuted her sentence, reportedly due to pressure from Trump.
The Colorado Department of Corrections confirmed Peters’ release but offered no additional details about the 70-year-old. Her original nine-year sentence was significantly reduced following a persistent campaign by Trump directed at Governor Polis.
Peters spent less than a quarter of her sentence behind bars.
Peters became the first local election official to face charges for compromising security after the 2020 presidential election. She had facilitated access for an external computer expert associated with Mike Lindell, the CEO of My Pillow, who was a vocal supporter of Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud. This expert copied data from the county’s Dominion Voting Systems server during a 2021 update.
Following this, Peters appeared alongside Lindell at a “cybersymposium,” where they purported to provide evidence of election tampering. However, this event led to videos and images of the system upgrade, including sensitive passwords, being leaked online. These actions fueled baseless allegations that voting machines were manipulated to deny Trump a second term.
In 2024, a jury in Mesa County, a Republican-leaning area that backed Trump, convicted Peters of several charges, including attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, and breach of duty. Although her conviction was upheld by an appeals court in April, the court mandated a resentencing, citing that the original judge had improperly penalized her for her comments on election fraud.
Trump had championed Peters’ case, but because she was convicted under state law, he did not have the power to pardon her. Instead, the president pressured Polis to do so, lambasting him on social media and disinviting him to a White House meeting with other governors.
The Trump administration also announced plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado and relocated the U.S. Space Command to Alabama.
Polis commuted Peters’ sentence on May 15. In a letter, he wrote that although Peters was convicted of serious crimes and deserved to spend time in prison, the sentence was “extremely unusual and lengthy” for a first-time non-violent offender.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, on Monday released a statement warning that the release will “embolden the election denier movement” and adding that, since the clemency announcement, Peters “has continued to spread election falsehoods and conspiracies.”
