DENVER (AP) — Former Colorado elections clerk Tina Peters is asking the state appeals court to recognize President Donald Trump’s pardon of her state convictions as valid.
In a motion Tuesday, Peters’ lawyers said the Colorado appeals court no longer has jurisdiction over her case because of a Dec. 5 pardon issued by Trump. They also asked the court to release her from prison because of the pardon.
Peters, the former clerk of Mesa County, Colorado, was convicted of state crimes there for orchestrating a data breach scheme driven by false claims about voting machine fraud in the 2020 presidential race. Trump’s pardon power does not extend to state crimes.
In the court filing, Peters’ attorneys argued that President George Washington issued pardons to people convicted of both state and federal crimes in the 1795 Whiskey Rebellion. They urged the state appeals court to issue a decision quickly. The court is due to hear arguments from lawyers in Peters’ appeal of her conviction on January 14.
The appeals court ruled Wednesday that lawyers from the state attorney general’s office, which is defending the conviction, can respond to Peters’ arguments until January 8.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office declined to comment. Weiser previously denied it when Trump announced it on December 11.
“The idea that a president can pardon someone tried and convicted in state court has no precedent in American law, it would be a disgraceful departure from what our constitution requires, and it will not hold,” he said in a statement that day.
If the appeals court rules that the pardon is invalid, one of Peters’ lawyers, Peter Ticktin, said she could appeal that issue to the US Supreme Court while the state court continues to consider Peters’ appeal of her conviction.
Another attorney for Peters, John Case, asked the state prison system to release Peters based on Trump’s pardon but the state refused, according to an email included in the appeals court filing.
Earlier this month, Peters lost a bid in federal court to be released from prison pending her state appeal.
Peters claims that the state judge who sentenced her to nine years behind bars violated her First Amendment rights by punishing her for making allegations about election fraud.
During Peters’ sentencing in October 2024, Judge Matthew Barrett called Peters a “charlatan” and said she was a danger to the community for spreading lies about voting and undermining the democratic process.
Peters did not apologize and insisted that everything she did was aimed at trying to remove what she believed to be a fraud. She claimed that her actions were done for the greater good.
Peters was convicted of allowing a man to misuse a security card to access the electoral system and of misrepresenting that person’s identity. The man was affiliated with MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were rigged to steal the election from Trump.