Tina Peters Jared Polis Colorado election fraud

Colorado Governor Jared Polis has commuted the prison sentence of Tina Peters, the former Mesa County election clerk who was sentenced last year to serve nine years in state prison for carrying out one of the most serious election-related data breaches in U.S. history.

Peters was arrested in 2021, accused of abusing her position as clerk to break into Mesa County election facilities under false pretenses, steal election and voting machine data, and share them with allies of President Donald Trump in an attempt to prove he won the 2020 presidential election.

Peters has served less than a year and a half of her nine-year sentence after being convicted of using another Mesa County resident’s identity to enter county election facilities, where she stole voting data from the 2020 election and shared it with Trump allies online. Peters claimed the data would show Trump actually won Colorado in 2020, but election and cybersecurity experts confirmed her actions were a serious breach of election security.

Mesa County officials stated that Peters’ actions cost them millions of dollars to address the legal fallout while she ran for higher office in 2022.

Judge’s Sentencing Remarks

"I’m convinced you’d do it all over again," said Judge Matthew Barrett in handing down the nine-year sentence, calling Peters a "charlatan."

For months, Polis had hinted at pardoning or commuting Peters’ sentence, arguing that it was overly harsh for her crimes. Trump also pressured state officials to pardon or commute Peters’ sentence, though her conviction was for state crimes, meaning only a state-level clemency could free her.

Polis previously stated he would only grant clemency to Peters if she showed remorse, but testimony from her community and neighbors at her sentencing hearing indicated she remained largely unrepentant after her arrest and conviction.

Review of Polis’ Clemency Record

A review by Denver news affiliate KUSA found that Polis had never previously pardoned or commuted the sentence of a prisoner who did not openly express remorse. Polis later claimed in an interview with the outlet that Peters had expressed regret.

Polis’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source: CyberScoop
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