Following Trump’s ‘Pardon,’ Tina Peters Asks Colorado Appeals Court to Release Her

Lawyers for Tina Peters — the Colorado election denier serving a nine-year state prison sentence for her role in a voting system data breach — asked the Colorado Court of Appeals last week to release her after President Donald Trump granted Peters a legally meaningless “pardon” earlier this month.

Since Peters was sentenced on state, not federal, charges, Trump’s pardon is largely ceremonial. But Peters’ lawyers are asking Colorado’s second-highest court to now consider if the presidential pardon does actually have merit in Peters’ case. 

“There is no question that the Pardon forgave federal offenses,” Peters’ attorneys wrote in a legal filing. “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 legal dispute over the Pardon is now before this Court.”

Should the Colorado Appeals Court reject Peters’ latest effort to be released from prison, her attorney Peter Ticktin reportedly said her legal team could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Since Peters was sentenced in October 2024, she’s become something of a folk hero among the MAGA faithful and conspiracy-driven, far-right anti-voting activists. Many of whom have escalated their calls for military intervention to free Peters since Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) has refused to pardon her in the wake of Trump’s “pardon.”

“Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers, prosecuted by a Republican District Attorney, and found guilty of violating Colorado state laws, including criminal impersonation,” Polis previously said in a statement. “No President has jurisdiction over state law nor the power to pardon a person for state convictions. This is a matter for the courts to decide, and we will abide by court orders.” 

Since then, prominent far-right figures such as former Trump senior advisor Steve Bannon, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, and GOP congressional candidate Jake Lang have amplified calls to free Peters through violent means — including suggestions of a Jan. 6-style storming of the prison Peters is incarcerated in to free her. 

One of the loudest voices calling for violence to free Peters, far-right podcaster Joe Oltmann, recently said he is running for governor of Colorado. In previous posts to social media, Oltmann called for violence against several Colorado officials in an anti-semitic screed and warned of an “insurrection” over Peters’ incarceration. 

“We are in an insurrection,” Oltmann said. Polis will pay.”

Peters has distanced herself from these calls for violence. 

“Tina categorically DENOUNCES and REJECTS any statements or OPERATIONS, public or private, involving a ‘prison break’ or use of force against La Vista or any other CDOC facility in any way,” reads a post on her official X account, which is managed by close allies while she is incarcerated. “This type of inflammatory theatrical rhetoric is contrary to who Tina Peters is, what she stands for, and undermines her lawful actions. Statements like these not only misrepresent Tina, they undermine the sacrifices she has made to expose the truth and pursue justice through proper legal channels.”