Judge hears former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ request to be released on bond
A federal magistrate judge heard from attorneys for Tina Peters, the election-denying former Mesa County clerk, during a Tuesday habeas corpus hearing, but he did not yet reach a recommendation on her petition.
Peters, a Republican, is serving a nine-year prison sentence for her role in a breach of Mesa County’s elections systems during a 2021 software update. She was convicted by a jury in August 2024 on four felony counts related to the security breach, which was part of an effort to demonstrate that the 2020 election was untrustworthy, even though there is no credible evidence to support that position.
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Peters has appealed the conviction, and while the Colorado Court of Appeals reviews her appeal, her legal team filed a federal habeas corpus petition, which was the subject of
Tuesday’s hearing. The petition, which was filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, argues that Peters should be released on bond pending the appeal decision.
One of the requirements for a habeas corpus petition to be granted is for the petitioner to have exhausted all other state-level legal avenues for resolving the case. The judge in Peters’ habeas corpus hearing, Scott T. Varholak, appeared to doubt that some of the five arguments in her petition met that requirement.
“It’s not clear to me that that exhausts anything,” Varholak said.
Following questions raised by Varholak, Peters’ lawyers agreed to drop four of the five parts of the petition and focus exclusively on an argument that Peters’ imprisonment violates her First Amendment right of free speech. The other parts included arguments that Peters’ imprisonment violates her 14th Amendment right of due process and the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which establishes that federal laws take precedence over potentially conflicting state laws.
“On the issue of exhaustion, I just want to remind the court that the burden is on Ms. Peters to establish,” said Lisa Michaels, an attorney representing the Colorado attorney general’s office.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is named as a respondent in the case, along with Moses “Andre” Stancil, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Peters’ case has garnered national attention and President Donald Trump has called for the U.S. Department of Justice to take “all necessary action” to secure her release. Trump cannot pardon Peters, because her conviction involves state crimes.
In touch with the DOJ
The courtroom on Tuesday and an overflow room were both packed with Peters supporters, many of whom wore pins calling for her to be freed from prison.
Her attorney, Peter Ticktin, confirmed in an interview with Newsline Monday that he has been in contact with the Department of Justice.
“I’ve basically been letting people at the DOJ understand what our situation is, or her situation is, and remember, the president of the United States basically called for her immediate release and has made it very clear that she’s a political prisoner,” Ticktin said.
Peters was convicted by a Mesa County jury, and prosecuted by the office of a Republican district attorney. There has been no credible claim that the trial was politically compromised.
Varholak brought up the atypical nature of the habeas corpus petition, in that it is not a petition calling for the overturn of a conviction or an unsuccessful appeal, but for Peters to be released on bail pending her appeal.
“Do you have any cases, anywhere, ever, where a court has granted habeas on an appeal bond?” Varholak said.
Peters’ attorneys did not provide the precedent of a case in which a petition under such circumstances has been granted. They acknowledged the unusual nature of the request, but argued that Peters should be released on bail due to health and safety concerns.
“If there has ever been a case where someone should be released on bail, this is the case,” Ticktin said in court. “She’s living in hell, because someone is afraid of what she might say.”
Peters had asked to attend Tuesday’s hearing remotely from prison in Pueblo, but her motion was denied July 8. Peters’ attorneys said in the motion that she wanted to attend the hearing Tuesday because the issues being discussed “affect her liberty interests.”
Ticktin said in the interview with Newsline that Peters, who is 70 years old, has fibromyalgia.
The date of a subsequent hearing has yet to be scheduled, but Varholak gave the state attorney general’s office and Peters’ attorneys several weeks to provide updated briefs and responses.
