DENVER (AP) — A federal magistrate judge on Monday rejected a bid by a former Colorado county clerk to be released from prison after he appealed a state conviction for masterminding a data breach scheme fueled by false claims about voting machine fraud during the 2020 presidential race.
Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters filed a federal lawsuit asking that she be released on bond while her appeal is considered. Attorneys for the state had argued that the case should be thrown out in part because of legal principles that prevent federal courts from getting involved in pending state criminal cases.
Federal Magistrate Judge Scott Warholak ruled Monday that Peters did not make out a case that should involve overturning his state conviction.
Peters’ attorney, John Case, said in an emailed statement that he was disappointed by the decision. He said Peters was innocent and the voting machine could not be trusted.
“When Tina is released, and she will be released in time, hopefully soon, it will mean that we are recovering from the atrocities that were committed against Tina and the people of Colorado,” Case wrote.
A message left with the Colorado attorney general’s office seeking comment on the order was not immediately returned Monday.
Trump and others have called for Peters’ release
Peters argued that the magistrate judge should release her because she said the state judge who sentenced her to nine years in prison violated her First Amendment rights. Peters claimed he was being punished for accusing him of election fraud, but prosecutors argued that the U.S. Supreme Court allows judges to consider people’s speech during sentencing if they deem it relevant.
During Peters’ October 2024 sentencing, Judge Matthew Barrett called the defendant a “charlatan” and said he posed a threat to the community by spreading lies about voting and undermining the democratic process.
Peters was unapologetic and insisted that everything she did was geared toward trying to pull off what she believed to be fraud. He claimed that his actions were done for the greater good.
His attorneys argued that Barrett was wrong to call Peters’ statements “lies” and said there was no evidence that his speech posed a threat.
President Donald Trump and other supporters, including retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s first-term national security adviser, have called for Peters’ release. In August, Trump warned of “severe action” if Peters was not freed, saying he was elderly and very ill.
“Let Tina Peters out of jail, right now. She did nothing wrong except cheat the Democrats in the election,” Trump posted on his Truth social platform on Aug. 21.
Flynn has said Peters, 70, should be taken into federal custody because she could be a witness in the 2020 election probe.
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 sent to federal custody. One of his lawyers said he believed the request was made so Peters could more easily become involved in the election investigation.
There is no evidence of any widespread fraud in Colorado elections, which are staunchly defended by county clerks across the state, most of whom are Republicans. Peters was prosecuted by an elected Republican district attorney, and three of his conservative-leaning county supervisors also supported the case and defended the integrity of state elections.
The U.S. Department of Justice became involved in Peters’ federal case in March, raising “reasonable concerns” about his prosecution. It also said the DOJ is reviewing whether the prosecution is “more oriented toward inflicting political pain than pursuing real justice or legitimate government objectives,” a line from an executive order Trump signed shortly after his inauguration titled “End Disarmament of the Federal Government.”
The state has objected to the federal government’s intrusion, saying the statement filed by the department in the case appears to be a “bare, political effort” to intimidate the court or Peters’ prosecutors. It failed to deny it.
Peters’ lawyers pointed to three cases in which federal judges ordered people convicted of state crimes to be released from prison when they appealed, including one involving free speech. In that 1977 case, a judge freed the late Native American activist Russell Means from prison because he was released from state custody while active in the American Indian movement. A state court largely barred him from participating in the group. A federal judge ruled that there was an unconstitutional limit on his First Amendment rights of speech and association.
Peters challenged his imprisonment under a constitutional provision called habeas corpus.
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Associated Press writer Mead Gruver in Fort Collins, Colorado, contributed to this report.
