People v. Peters (Colorado Supreme Court cert petition)

Will the Colorado Supreme Court turn away Tina Peters' appeal?

Court: Colorado Supreme Court (cert from Colo. App. No. 24CA1951)
Division: Trial Court

Where the case stands

Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed all seven convictions on Apr. 2, 2026, rejecting her claims that a presidential pardon reaches state convictions and that the Supremacy Clause immunized her — but vacated her sentence, holding the trial court improperly punished her protected election-fraud speech, and ordered resentencing. Rehearing denied Apr. 23, 2026. Cert petition filed with the Colorado Supreme Court on/about May 27, 2026. Separately, Gov. Polis commuted her sentence May 15, 2026 and she was paroled June 1, 2026 — the commutation does not disturb the convictions the petition attacks.

Background

Former Mesa County, Colorado clerk and recorder — the first U.S. election official convicted of crimes arising from a breach of her own county's voting equipment, carried out in service of 2020 election-fraud claims. A national cause celebre: President Trump publicly demanded her release and the DOJ filed a statement of interest in her federal habeas case.

Charges

Convicted Aug. 12, 2024 on seven counts: three felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one felony conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, and misdemeanor official misconduct, violation of duty, and failure to comply with the Secretary of State
Sentenced Oct. 3, 2024 to 9 years (prison plus jail)

The arguments

Prosecution/State: Peters deceived state officials to sneak an outside ally in under a false identity during a secure May 2021 voting-machine software update, resulting in forensic hard-drive images and BIOS passwords of Dominion equipment leaking online.

Defense: Her petition argues the courts below wrongly refused a hearing on possible juror tampering (a sitting juror's business phone lines were cut mid-trial, leaving her wondering if she was targeted), and renews federal-law defenses — presidential pardon effect and Supremacy Clause immunity — that the Court of Appeals rejected.

The record

Published appellate opinion. The 24CA1951 opinion sets out the trial evidence: the badge and identity of Gerald Wood used by outsider access, the leaked BIOS passwords, and the secure-update breach timeline.
Televised proceedings. Her August 2024 Mesa County trial, verdict and sentencing were broadcast; news-archive video of the courtroom proceedings is publicly available.
Juror phone-line incident. Record evidence, described in the cert petition and coverage, that a juror's business phone lines were cut during trial — the basis of the tampering-hearing claim.

The line-setting read at the time this market opened

Cert review is discretionary and rare, and the Court of Appeals firmly rejected the pardon and Supremacy Clause theories; she also already won partial relief (resentencing) below, and the commutation lowers the practical stakes. A grant is a long shot but not trivial: the petition presents novel federal questions with national salience.

Awaiting decision — The Colorado Supreme Court's discretionary decision to grant or deny certiorari — denial makes the convictions final; a grant sets merits briefing and argument. The ruling is posted here, and on the board, the moment it's confirmed by two or more independent news organizations.

Take the bench →

Sources

Public record

About this library

Every case on Bet! GUILTY or NOT? is a real, currently pending or recently decided court matter. This library carries the casebrief and the sources for every case on the docket — open or decided. Browse the full docket library.