Colorado Gov. Polis Commutes Tina Peters’ Nine-Year Sentence, Citing Unusual Length for First-Time Non-Violent Offender
Former Mesa County elections clerk Tina Peters was released June 1 after serving less than a quarter of a nine-year term. Gov. Jared Polis commuted the sentence on May 15 following pressure from President Donald Trump.
ABC NewsTina Peters, the former elections clerk of Mesa County, Colorado, was released from prison on June 1, 2026, after serving less than a quarter of a nine-year sentence. Gov. Jared Polis commuted Peters' sentence on May 15.
In a letter, Polis wrote that although Peters was convicted of serious crimes and deserved to spend time in prison, the sentence was "extremely unusual and lengthy" for a first-time non-violent offender. Peters was convicted in 2024 by jurors in Mesa County of attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty, and other crimes.
An appeals court upheld her conviction in April 2026 but ordered her to be resentenced.
Peters was the first local election official charged with breaching security after the 2020 election. She snuck an outside computer expert affiliated with My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell into the county's election system update in 2021. The computer expert copied Mesa County's Dominion Voting Systems computer server.
Video and photos of the computer system upgrade, including passwords, were posted online. Peters joined Lindell onstage at a cybersymposium that promised to reveal proof that the election was rigged. Mesa County is a Republican stronghold that supported Trump.
President Donald Trump pressured Gov. Trump lambasted Polis on social media and disinvited him to a White House meeting with other governors. The Colorado Department of Corrections would not confirm the time of Peters' release.
A representative for her attorney said Peters would not speak to the media when she is freed. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold called the commutation a dark day for democracy and said it amounted to selling out our state's justice system for Trump.
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