Federal judge refuses to release pro-Trump clerk convicted of voting breach

A federal judge has refused to release a former Colorado clerk convicted of trying to violate voting systems in hopes of proving President Donald Trump’s claims of election irregularities in 2020.

Former clerk Tina Peters, 70, was sentenced to nine years in prison after a state jury found her guilty of participating in a scheme to violate voting systems in Mesa County. Peters filed a lawsuit seeking her release earlier this year, arguing that her free speech rights had been violated, but Judge Scott Varholak rejected the move on Monday.

“Ms. Peters raises important constitutional questions as to whether the trial court improperly punished her more severely for her First Amendment-protected speech,” Varholak wrote. “But since this question is still pending before the Colorado courts, this court should refrain from answering that question until after the Colorado courts decide the case.”

Peters, the only Trump ally facing prison time for rejecting the 2020 election, has received significant support from the president.

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“Tina is an innocent political prisoner who is being horribly and unjustly punished in the form of cruel and unusual punishment. This is communist persecution by radical left Democrats to cover up their election crimes and wrongdoings in 2020. The same Democratic Party that travels to El Salvador to try to free an MS-13 terrorist, cruelly imprisons, possibly for life, a grandmother whose brave and heroic son gave his life for America,” he wrote on Truth Social in May.

He added: “Colorado must put an end to this unjust detention of an innocent American.”

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President Donald Trump has called for Peters’ release, but her conviction on state charges limits federal authority to intervene. (Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)

However, Trump and the Justice Department have little influence over the case, because Peters has been convicted of crimes at the state level. His administration unsuccessfully sought to have her transferred to federal custody.

Election judges examine ballots in the segregation section of the Denver Elections Department in Denver, Colorado on Thursday. October 29, 2020. (Hyung Chang/Media News Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

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Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, pledged not to pardon Peters as part of a deal with Trump, saying he would not participate in “any scheme to prevent her from being held accountable under Colorado law.”