Colorado Dem. Governor Commutes Former County Clerk Tina Peters' 9-Year Sentence

Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk who was serving a nine-year sentence for providing unauthorized access to election voting data, had her sentence commuted on Friday by Democratic Governor Jared Polis.

The Details: The commutation will allow for Peters to be released on parole June 1, downgrading her sentence from nine years to less than three. Polis' decision followed a Colorado Supreme Court decision to resentence Peters, citing concerns that Peters was unlawfully punished for protected speech. Polis said his decision was due to what he called "an unusually harsh sentence" for a non-violent first-time offender but also noted that "She committed a crime. She deserves to be a convicted felon."  

"Free Tina Peters": President Donald Trump said on Truth Social following Polis' announcement, "Free Tina." Trump has vocally called for her release, saying in March "The Great State of Colorado, and a pathetic RINO District Attorney, together with the Radical Left Governor, gave a wonderful woman named Tina Peters, a 73-year-old Gold Star Mom, who has cancer, nine years in prison because, as a Republican Voting Official, she went after the Democrats for cheating in the 2020 Presidential Election. So, she went after them for cheating, and these SLEAZEBAGS put her in jail. FREE TINA!"

 "Election Denier": Some outlets on the left, like The New York Times (Lean Left bias) called Peters an "election denier," and explained why Polis, a Democratic Governor, commuted her sentence. The article said that between Colorado being "battered" by federal cuts coming from "a president willing to punish" Colorado, and "Democratic allies who implored Mr. Polis not to cave to Trump's demands," the Colorado Governor was "in a political vise." The article further mentioned that this "comes at another tense moment for the nation's election systems," asserting that "Trump has installed election deniers in the federal government." David A. Graham, writing opinion for The Atlantic (Left), called Polis' decision "a mistake," explaining that Peters' release "is likely to encourage attacks on election integrity." Graham asserted that "clemency seems only to have convinced many 2020 election deniers that they were right all along," adding that election deniers have taken top positions across government," with the "most glaring example" being "the president himself."

"Outrageous Nine-Year Sentence": Mike Davis, writing for Fox News Opinion (Right) said that while "Most leftists delighted in Peters' suffering," Polis "saw this for the egregious wrong that it was and stopped it." Davis explained that Peters, a seventy-year-old non-violent former county clerk, "has been rotting in a Colorado prison, serving an outrageous nine-year sentence," and that "anyone who believes in the rule of law, regardless of political party, should thank him [Polis] profusely for his courageous grant of clemency." Davis asserted that "Peters never tried to alter any votes in any election," explaining that she simply "believed, as did millions of Americans, that the 2020 election was rigged against President Donald Trump." 

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