Federal Judge Shuts Down Tina Peters’s Bid for Release

A federal judge has rejected Tina Peters’s attempt to use a habeas petition to get out of state custody, cutting off the most direct avenue to federal appropriation. The former Mesa County clerk’s attorneys and supporters, including many in the White House, had imagined this path could break Peters out of state custody and into federal custody, where the Trump administration could ostensibly modify her nine-year state sentence for election interference.

In a nine-page order issued December 8, U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott Varholak of the federal District of Colorado dismissed the petition under a legal doctrine called a Younger abstention, writing that Peters’s pending appeal in the Colorado Court of Appeals bars the federal court from intervening. However, the judge did appear to have some sympathy for Petres.

“Without question, Ms. Peters raises important constitutional questions concerning whether the trial court improperly punished her more severely because of her protected First Amendment speech. But because this question remains pending before Colorado courts, this Court must abstain from answering that question until after the Colorado courts have decided the issue,” Varholak wrote.

None of the allegations that Peters’s attorney have raised in the past month played any role in the decision. Those filings described coughing spells that Peters said were triggered by dust blowing from the prison’s HVAC system and temperature problems in her cell. Peters is currently serving her state sentence at La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo.

Peters is a vocal Trump supporter, and propagated the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, resulting in a win by Joe Biden. The 2020 presidential election denier was tried and convicted in Colorado under state statutes after using her office to allow an associate of MyPillow founder Mike Lindell to access county election equipment.

Late last month, the Colorado County Clerks Association urged Governor Jared Polis to reject efforts by the federal Bureau of Prisons to transfer Peters into federal custody. The spokesperson for Colorado’s Department of Corrections told the media there were no efforts underway to transfer Peters, and that any such transfer request would have to originate from its department, not an external entity like the federal Bureau of Prisons.

On December 3, President Donald Trump issued a dictum on his Truth Social online media platform calling Polis a “SLEAZEBAG,” and ordering him to “FREE TINA!”

According to reporting by Colorado Newsline, Peters’s attorneys have asked the Trump administration for a pardon, and are attempting legal arguments to usurp the Colorado courts’ sovereignty. Peters will remain in state custody while her appeal proceeds through the state Court of Appeals.