The Colorado Court of Appeals threw out the nine-year sentence for discredited elections clerk Tina Peters on Thursday and ordered that she be resentenced by a district judge.

The panel of three judges found that Mesa County District Judge Matthew Barrett wrongly based part of his sentence on Peters’ exercise of her right to free speech, according to a 74-page opinion released Thursday.

The court upheld her convictions and rejected an effort by President Donald Trump to pardon his political ally, despite his fixation on freeing her and a pressure campaign against Colorado.

Peters has backed Trump’s false claims that he won the 2020 election.

“Notwithstanding the fact that some of the trial court’s considerations were tied to proper sentencing considerations, when the court’s comments are viewed in their totality, it is apparent that the court imposed the lengthy sentence it did because Peters continued to espouse the views that led her to commit these crimes,” Court of Appeals Judge Ted C. Tow III wrote in the opinion.

“The tenor of the court’s comments makes clear that it felt the sentence length was necessary, at least in part, to prevent her from continuing to espouse views the court deemed ‘damaging.’ … The sentence punished Peters for her persistence in espousing her beliefs regarding the integrity of the 2020 election.”

Barring additional appeals, Thursday’s ruling will send the case back to Barrett, who will have the ability to reduce or reinstate Peters’ original sentence. The appeals judges denied Peters’ request that her case be resentenced by a different district judge, finding she needed to raise that issue in the lower court.

In a statement Thursday, Peters’ attorney Peter Ticktin said that, other than tossing Peters’ sentence, the ruling “got it all wrong.”

“Unfortunately, the Colorado Court of Appeals just kicked the can down the road rather than to do the honest responsible thing and give her a new trial, after her kangaroo trial. She remains in prison after 549 days,” Ticktin wrote. “Now, the Court of Appeals is sending Tina Peters back to the same district court for resentencing. This is terribly disappointing. I though (sic) that the Court of Appeals had a better understanding of the issues. Apparently, they did not.”

Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said Thursday that the Court of Appeals’ decision shows that Peters’ trial was fair, her rights were protected and the guilty verdicts were supported by evidence.

“The ruling on sentencing is more limited,” he said. “The appellate court did not find that the sentence was excessive or inappropriate, but instead identified a narrow issue requiring reconsideration. … Both parties have already had a full and fair opportunity to present their positions on sentencing, and once jurisdiction returns, I anticipate the trial court will issue a new sentencing order, potentially affirming the prior sentence length, with findings consistent with the appellate court’s guidance.”

He noted that the Court of Appeals considered and rejected nine claims of error that Peters raised about her trial and convictions.

The panel found there was sufficient evidence to convict Peters of her crimes, that Peters was not immune to state prosecution, that the purported presidential pardon carried no authority, and that a prosecutor’s characterization of the case during closing arguments did not impact the verdict.

The judges also upheld a felony conviction even though the charge was presented to the jury with language characterizing it as a misdemeanor, finding that the charge was correctly described in a charging document and mittimus.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said Thursday that Peters’ original sentence was “fair and appropriate.” Spokesman Lawrence Pacheco said the office has not yet decided whether to appeal.

“Whatever happens with her sentence, Tina Peters will always be a convicted felon who violated her duty as Mesa County clerk, put other lives at risk and threatened our democracy,” Weiser said. “Nothing will remove that stain.”

‘Revenge campaign’

Mesa County jurors convicted Peters, 70, of four felony and three misdemeanor crimes after she orchestrated a plot to sneak an unauthorized member of the public into a secure area to examine voting equipment amid unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. She appealed both convictions and the length of her sentence in a wide-ranging case that went before the appeals court in January.

Peters’ case has drawn significant attention from Trump, who repeatedly has called for the former clerk’s release and, in December, claimed to pardon her — a power he does not have over state-level criminal convictions. The Colorado Court of Appeals confirmed that the purported pardon was without merit in its ruling Thursday, noting that its ruling matched with “every other appellate court that has addressed the issue.”

Colorado officials have resisted the president’s demands, prompting Trump to mount what Weiser described as a “revenge campaign” against the state, including canceling more than $700 million in federal funds for Colorado.

Gov. Jared Polis signaled this year he was willing to reduce Peters’ sentence through clemency, a unique power of the governor.

After his comments drew criticism from Democratic lawmakers and other elected officials, Polis said he would not take action until after the Court of Appeals issued its decision. He suggested Peters should show remorse for her crimes. Peters has remained largely defiant, although after Polis’ comments, her attorney, John Case, noted that “anyone has second thoughts about what they’ve done.”

Polis did not address the question of clemency for Peters directly in a statement Thursday but called her sentence an “obvious outlier.”

“This case has been very challenging and a true test of our resolve as a state to have a fair judicial system, not just for people we agree with but a fair system for Coloradans that we vehemently disagree with,” he said. “My job as governor is to focus on what is right, not what is popular, and today the court took action to ensure equal justice for all.”

Messages to Peters’ legal team were not returned.

‘Election lies’

Democratic lawmakers across the state urged Polis not to reduce Peters’ sentence, arguing that doing so would undermine the justice system. House Speaker Julie McCluskie said Thursday that she needed to review the ruling.

“I think the members of the General Assembly have made their position clear about any action that the governor would take,” she said.

Secretary of State Jena Griswold said Thursday she was glad to see the court reject Trump’s pardon.

“Peters will continue to face accountability for coordinating a breach of her own election equipment,” Griswold said. “Her actions have been repeatedly used to spread conspiracy theories, amplify falsehoods and fuel dangerous election lies. Peters should not receive any special treatment as the district court considers re-sentencing.”

Peters was sentenced in October 2024 to serve three and a half years on two counts of attempting to influence a public official and another three and a half years on a third count of attempting to influence a public official.

She received an additional 15 months for conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation — the charge mistakenly presented as a misdemeanor — and six months for violation of duty and failure to comply with the requirements of the secretary of state, according to the attorney general’s office.

Before Thursday’s decision, Peters was set to be eligible for parole in November 2028, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections.