Latest news with #PeterTicktin
CBS News
23-07-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
No bond for former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters as backers go to federal court
Lawyers for convicted former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters on Tuesday tried to get a federal court in Denver to let her out on bond as they appeal her case in the Colorado State Court of Appeals. But the magistrate judge in federal court said he was not finding any reason to do so. "You're saying put her on bond, and I don't know that there's anything that authorizes that," said US Chief Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak. Peters is in jail in Larimer County as she serves nine years on a variety of convictions for her role in orchestrating a breach of unauthorized areas of Mesa County's elections office. She was convicted last August of three counts of attempted to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty, and failing to comply with the Colorado Secretary of State. Attorneys for Peters, who was not brought in for the hearing, are trying to involve federal courts in the review of her state-level convictions. "If there's ever a case in which somebody should be released from jail, it's this one," said attorney Peter Ticktin. Ticktin, a Florida-based attorney and longtime friend of President Donald Trump, said he was willing to drop several claims the magistrate judge said were not yet handled by the State Court of Appeals and should be. The petitioners are still hoping to claim in federal court that Peters' sentencing in a state court was a violation of her 1st Amendment rights because they claim the judge at her trial factored in the potential that not putting Peters in jail would allow her to speak publicly about the election security. But Varholak said the appeals to Colorado's State Court of Appeals is the place to make that case, and until those appeals are exhausted, he did not want to weigh in. "If Habeas is available, you have to present it to the Colorado Court of Appeals," he said, referring to the petitioner's efforts to have the court exercise habeas corpus, which means the federal court would have to demonstrate a legal basis for detaining her. That would hold the possibility of allowing her out of jail on bond during the appeals process. Varholek said he could find no example in the history of the United States in which that has been done before appeals were exhausted at the state level. He gave Peters' attorneys three weeks to file a brief on the issue. Peters did not attend the hearing. She remains in the custody of the Larimer County Sheriff. Outside the court, Ticktin railed against Peters' conviction and sentence. "Why would she possibly be remorseful for doing exactly what her duty was to do? She never did anything wrong. Why are they so afraid of her having free speech? It's because she's not speaking lies, it's because she's speaking the truth." While Peters appeals her conviction and sentence, the Department of Justice says it is reviewing the case. "This review will include an evaluation of the State of Colorado's prosecution of Ms. Peters and, in particular, whether the case was "oriented more toward inflicting political pain than toward pursuing actual justice or legitimate governmental objectives," said a release from earlier this year. The Colorado Attorney General's Office has characterized the move as unprecedented.
The Independent
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Trump's pardon attorney considers full clemency for Oath Keepers and founder Stewart Rhodes over Jan. 6 crimes
The man Donald Trump appointed to review pardon requests at the Department of Justice is already reviewing full clemency for Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers militia group who was convicted of treason-related charges in connection with the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol. Justice Department pardon attorney Ed Martin recently met with lawyer Peter Ticktin, who delivered 11 pardon applications — including one for Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 years in prison in connection with the Capitol assault. Hours after taking office, Trump commuted his sentence, along with the sentences of 13 other Capitol rioters, including Oath Keepers and Proud Boys members who were similarly convicted. Rhodes was released from prison hours later. Martin, a prominent 'Stop the Steal' activist who defended Jan. 6 defendants, was briefly Trump's top prosecutor in Washington, D.C., tasked with running the office that handled those prosecutions. Trump recently withdrew his name for consideration for the role and instead installed him as the pardon chief and head of the Justice Department's 'Weaponization Working Group.' According to Politico, the renewed effort to fully pardon Rhodes and other Jan. 6 offenders was arranged by Ticktin and Treniss Evans, who help run the right-wing nonprofit legal group American Rights Alliance. Proud Boys members Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola and Zachary Rehl are also seeking full pardons through Ticktin and Evans. 'I know Ed Martin and I felt it was important to bring these particular applications to his attention,' Ticktin told Politico, which first reported the pardon requests. 'I listened! Cuz he's wise,' Martin said about the meeting. The Independent has requested comment from Ticktin and the White House. A fresh round of pardon requests from defendants charged with the most serious crimes surrounding the attack will now head to White House pardon czar Alice Johnson. Trump is meanwhile expected to issue pardons for reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted of tax evasion and bank fraud and sentenced to several years in prison. The president also recently pardoned Paul Walczak, who pleaded guilty to tax crimes. The pardon was issued one month after Walczak's mother attended a Mar-a-Lago fundraising dinner charging $1 million per person. The president has pardoned nearly 1,600 defendants charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol. Rhodes and his allies spent weeks discussing a violent response to the 2020 election on encrypted messaging apps, then organized a weapons and supply cache at a nearby hotel before joining the mob. After several members breached the Capitol, shouting 'this is our f*****g house' and 'we took the f*****g Capitol,' Rhodes hailed them as 'patriots.' He told an ally that his only regret that day was that the group wasn't armed. Rhodes did not enter the building. Days after Jan. 6, Rhodes typed a message intended for then-President Trump, calling on him to 'save the republic' or 'die in prison.' That message was ultimately never delivered, but it echoed another message published on the Oath Keepers website weeks earlier, urging Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and deputize Rhodes and the Oath Keepers to take up arms. 'It's better to wage it with you as Commander-in-Chief than to have you comply with a fraudulent election, leave office, and leave the White House in the hands of illegitimate usurpers and Chinese puppets,' Rhodes wrote at the time. He followed up with another message demanding that Trump deliver a 'crushing blow' to his enemies 'while they sleep, wrapped in their arrogance.' Rhodes also instructed his allies to 'get gear squared away and ready to fight,' adding that 'Trump has one last chance right now to stand but he will need us and our rifles too.' More than 1,000 Jan. 6 defendants pleaded guilty. More than 200 people were found guilty at trial — including 10 defendants like Rhodes and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio were found guilty of seditious conspiracy. Judges who presided over Jan. 6 cases have barely hidden their contempt for Trump's sweeping pardons for virtually every member of the mob — and have issued stark warnings against attempts to rewrite the history of the attack. Last year, the federal judge who presided over Rhodes's case said the prospect of a pardon for his crimes 'is frightening and ought to be frightening to anyone who cares about democracy in this country.' 'You, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country and its democracy and the very fabric of this country,' District Judge Amit Mehta told Rhodes during his sentencing hearing in 2023. 'You are smart, you are compelling, and you are charismatic. Frankly, that is what makes you dangerous.' District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who presided over Trump's federal election interference case, wrote that Trump's pardons 'cannot whitewash the blood, feces, and terror that the mob left in its wake.'
