Tina Peters, former Colorado county clerk, requests release on bond during convictions appeal
Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk and recorder, is demanding her release from jail as she challenges her election interference convictions. Amid this new action, she's citing major health concerns as part of her demand for release as she awaits the response to her appeal.
On Feb. 7, court records show Peters, 69, filed her new application with the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. Peters was originally convicted in August 2024 on charges related to election interference crimes in Mesa County while she was clerk during the 2020 general election and sentenced in October.
According to the application, in part, Peters, "is monitored for recurrence of her lung cancer, and suffers from fibromyalgia. Since she has been incarcerated, her health has deteriorated. As her pastor has observed, her physical vigor and cognitive function has declined. She is pale, has lost weight, and has difficulties with memory and word-finding."
Peters was sentenced to a total of 9 years of incarceration between Larimer County Jail and the Colorado Department of Corrections. Peters is currently serving a 6-month sentence at the jail for misdemeanors ahead of the 8.5 years she was sentenced to for the felony convictions she received.
Peters and her legal counsel have already filed an appeal for all her convictions in the Colorado Court of Appeals and are awaiting action.
In the application, Peters and her counsel point blame at the Colorado Secretary of State's Office for actions that led, in part, to her incarceration. Peters accused the Secretary of State's Office of directing the former Mesa County clerk and recorder to essentially erase election records by performing a software upgrade.
Based on claims against the Secretary of State's Office, Peters asserts in the court document, "...her federal duty to preserve these records by making forensic images of the Election Management System (EMS) server hard drive resulted in three detailed reports prepared by cybersecurity experts she submitted to the Board of County Commissioners, district attorney, and county attorney explaining the illegal features of the County's computerized election system."
Those accusations aside, Peters' key claim and demand in the new application is her release on bond.
According to the court documentation, "This Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus does not concern the merits of those convictions but challenges the refusal of the Colorado Court of Appeals and the District Court of Mesa County to grant her bail pending appellate review of them."
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