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On November 12, the Trump administration formally requested that Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk sentenced to nine years in prison, be transferred to federal custody. On November 25, a half-dozen Democratic, Republican and unaffiliated Colorado county clerks appeared together at an online press conference to urge Governor Jared Polis to keep Peters incarcerated in Colorado.
The message from the clerks, who’ve spent years living with the fallout from Peters’s election machine breach, was blunt: Any move to transfer Peters to federal custody would send a dangerous signal that elected officials can sidestep consequences. “Governor, Tina Peters is not a victim. She is a convicted felon,” said Routt County Clerk Jenny Thomas. “Either the law means something, or it means nothing. What she did hurt every county in Colorado.”
The day after the clerks issued their public plea, the Colorado Department of Corrections said it is “not currently seeking a transfer” of Peters, despite Trump’s request. Then, over the weekend, Peters’s lawyers filed an emergency motion for an expedited opinion for her request to be granted bond pending appeal, saying that Peters’s 97-year-old mother suffered injuries and required emergency surgery after a fall in the early hours of November 28. A sworn statement accompanying the motion attests that Peters’s mother is in the intensive care unit at a hospital in Roanoke, Virginia. According to the emergency motion, Peters’s father died while she was in custody after her 2022 arrest.
So far, there’s been no response regarding this latest request. And while Polis has said he’d welcome the opportunity to meet with the clerks, he’s been silent on the subject of a Peters transfer. In their comments on the Westword Facebook story, however, readers have not been so reticent. Says Mary Ann:
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State laws broken, state consequences. She should stay.
Adds Sam:
How is this even up for discussion? She got caught breaking the law, was tried, convicted and sentenced. By the S. The answer is no. Polis should get out in front of this already and just say so.
Responds Darrin:
She did not break a law, she is a politicial prisoner. Many of you need to look into the case. She was not allowed to provide a defense, she is being held in jail for over a year without an appeal court date, on no bail. Now, if she was an illegal who killed someone, she’d be walking the streets. Even Stevie Wonder can see what’s going on here.
Counters Donella:
She was convicted by twelve people who were her peers. By a Republican judge. In Colorado. What is your point other than to allow another convict to go free for breaking laws in support of a felon?
Replies Kirk:
She was charged for a crime when she committed none. This state is corrupted beyond belief.
Adds David:
They want her to stay in prison because they know if she gets out she’s gonna testify against the Democrats in Colorado on voter fraud. She did nothing wrong, but they put her in prison because she would’ve blew their whole voter fraud scheme.
Suggests Jeremy:
I’m sure it’s all a witch hunt. A scam. She didn’t do anything. Innocent as OJ.
Notes Lynne:
It’s completely absurd that anyone is asking for an election trasher to be allowed off the hook. If we lose our election integrity, we’re dead as a nation.
Concludes Bruce:
There’s no reason for the Governor to allow all this drama. He should say “No way” and move on.
What do you think of the request to move Tina Peters to a federal prison? What did you think of her Colorado conviction? Post a comment or email your thoughts to editorial@westword.com.
