Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is asking Colorado’s Court of Appeals to reconsider whether the state court has the right to hear her appeal in the wake of President Donald Trump’s pardon.
If the court no longer has the right to try the case, she should be immediately freed, her attorneys argue.
Peters is serving a nearly nine-year sentence at the La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo on convictions related to allowing unauthorized access to county voting equipment following the 2020 election.
Earlier this month, Trump pardoned Peters. When her attorney served the pardon to the La Vista Correctional Facility demanding her release, an officer with the Department of Corrections turned down the request, the motion stated.
Presidential pardons have long been considered applicable to just federal cases and do not necessarily apply to state convictions. State officials argued the pardon did not free Peters from her state convictions.
But in the motion, lawyers for Peters argue Trump’s pardon applies to both state and federal cases. Her attorney, Peter Ticktin, views the case as a “poster child case” for how broadly presidential pardons can apply.
“There is no question that the Pardon forgave federal offenses,” the motion states. “However, the Pardon also forgave Colorado state court convictions for actions Clerk Peters ‘may have committed or taken part in related to election integrity and security’ during the applicable time period.”
The motion argues Peters is entitled to immediate release.
Colorado’s Attorney General maintains Trump’s pardon does not apply at the state level and that Peters should remain imprisoned.
Peters’ attorneys said the motion would be filed on Christmas Eve. Colorado Public Radio could not independently confirm if the motion had been filed yet with the Colorado Court of Appeals.
