Politics

SCOOP: Colorado Could Be In Hot Water With Feds For Punishing Election Official

Hustvedt/Wikimedia Commons/Colorado Capitol

A conservative group is asking the federal government to criminally investigate Colorado officials for throwing 2020 election skeptic Tina Peters in prison.

The state targeted the former county clerk and President Donald Trump ally based on political viewpoints when punishing her for leaking voting machine data in 2021, the Article III Project told the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a Monday letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Judge Matthew Barrett sentenced Peters to nine years behind bars in 2024 on felonies and misdemeanors for sharing the data with political allies to investigate alleged election fraud.

Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted the sentence on May 15, scheduling her for release on Monday.

“The evidence is clear: Colorado government officials conspired to severely, unconstitutionally, and criminally punish Tina Peters because of her First Amendment-protected views on election integrity,” the Article III Project wrote to Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon. The group asked her team to investigate the involvement of Barrett, Democratic Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, Republican Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein and Democratic Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold in the case, along with “any and all other potential coconspirators.”

Colorado’s appeals court ordered Peters to be resentenced in April, ruling that Barrett’s judgment “was based in part on improper consideration of her exercise of her right to free speech.” In a letter explaining Peters’ commutation, Polis agreed with the court that Barrett “should not have considered those [political] beliefs relevant when imposing sentence.”

Barrett, Griswold’s office and Weiser’s office did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

“Claims that Ms. Peters was denied her civil rights are difficult to reconcile with the record,” Rubinstein told the DCNF. “She was indicted by a grand jury, which was selected before she committed her crimes, tried before an impartial jury that she selected, represented by counsel, afforded every constitutional protection guaranteed by our system, and convicted based on the evidence presented in open court.”

“The Colorado Court of Appeals has already confirmed that she received a fair trial,” Rubinstein said. “While the Governor chose to reduce her sentence, that decision does not change the fact that she remains a convicted felon who was lawfully prosecuted and properly held accountable for her crimes.”

Peters’ legal team aims to have the Colorado Supreme Court overturn her convictions, The Denver Post reported.