Polis commutes Tina Peters’s sentence, ordering parole release June 1

DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis on Friday commuted the prison sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, cutting her nearly nine-year sentence to four years and four and a half months and ordering her released on parole effective June 1. The clemency order is a commutation, not a pardon; Peters’s four felony convictions remain on her record.

In a signed clemency letter to Peters, Polis wrote that he was “granting you a limited commutation such that your total sentence, inclusive of time in County Jail and the Department of Corrections, is commuted to 4 years and 4.5 months, and you shall be released on parole effective June 1, 2026, with terms and conditions of parole to be set by the Parole Board.” Polis granted clemency to 44 people Friday, according to CBS Colorado, which quoted the governor’s news release. The 44 grants were nine commutations and 35 pardons, and Peters was the only nonviolent offender on the commutation list, Polis told 9News.

The decision arrived nearly five months after Kim Monson delivered a clemency petition to the governor’s office bearing 4,201 signatures from citizens in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and more than two months after Polis first publicly acknowledged that Peters’s sentence was disproportionate. The Kim Monson Show has followed the case throughout. Monson launched the petition on Dec. 8, 2025, closed it Dec. 22, and delivered it printed and notarized to the governor’s office that afternoon. For more than two months there was no response. As The Kim Monson Newsroom reported in March, Monson also applied to visit Peters at La Vista Correctional Facility and received no response.

The show carried the story across the months Polis stayed silent. In December 2025, Monson covered the county clerks who opposed mercy for Peters (Dec. 5) and the legal fight over her case (Dec. 9). The coverage continued into 2026 as the petition went unanswered (Jan. 2, Jan. 20, March 5, and May 7).

A free-speech rationale

Polis tied the commutation to the Colorado Court of Appeals, which on April 2 affirmed Peters’s convictions but reversed her sentence. The appeals court held that the original nine-year term “was based in part on improper consideration of her exercise of her right to free speech,” and sent the case back to Mesa County for resentencing. The Kim Monson Newsroom covered that ruling when it came down.

In his letter, Polis quoted the appeals court directly, writing that he agreed “with the principle highlighted by the Colorado Court of Appeals in your case that, ‘…the First Amendment generally prohibits punishing someone for their protected speech.'” He made the same point in interviews.

“She, because of her incorrect and unpopular speech, got an unduly harsh sentence,” Polis told the Colorado Sun, adding that he considers the commuted sentence still “very harsh.”

“I never considered pardoning her, to be clear,” Polis told Denver7. “She committed a crime, deserves to be a convicted felon, deserves to do the time. But what happened, and I agree with the appeals court, she has unpopular, and, in my opinion, incorrect opinions. Those should not be a factor in her sentencing.”

Polis rejected the idea that contrition drove his decision. Asked about Peters’s lack of public remorse, he told the Colorado Sun: “That’s ridiculous. Ninety-nine percent of prisoners would say they’re sorry if it got them out. It’s really about disparate sentences.” On March 4, Polis had contrasted Peters’s nine-year sentence with the probation given former Democrat state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, who was convicted of the same felony, attempting to influence a public servant.

Timing the politics

Polis acted two days after Colorado’s 2026 legislative session ended. By waiting until adjournment, the Colorado Sun reported, he avoided damage to his legislative agenda; Democrat lawmakers had signaled they would not work with him if he freed Peters. But by not waiting longer, he interrupted the judicial process. The appeals court had ordered Mesa County District Judge Matthew Barrett to resentence Peters, and Polis acted before that resentencing could occur.

The governor brushed off the political cost. He is term-limited and leaves office in early 2027.

Broad opposition

The commutation drew immediate condemnation from elected representatives in the governor’s own party. Secretary of State Jena Griswold called it a “gross injustice to our elections, election workers and democracy with far reaching consequences,” CBS Colorado reported. In March, all 66 Democrat members of the Colorado General Assembly had signed a letter urging Polis not to grant clemency.

“We urge you not to empower those who seek to undermine our elections and our Republic by providing them with a figurehead to rally around and near assurance that, when you tamper with our elections, you will escape justice,” the letter said, according to 9News.

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat, said before the decision that “Tina Peters is a convicted felon. She was found guilty, by a jury of her peers, for her actions to undermine a free and fair election in Colorado. She has shown no contrition for what she did, and she has not accepted responsibility for it,” according to Colorado Newsline. Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, the Republican who prosecuted the case, and conservative county clerks across the state had also opposed clemency.

The underlying case

Peters, the former Mesa County clerk and recorder, was convicted in August 2024 of three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, official misconduct, violation of duty, and failure to comply with an order of the Secretary of State. A Mesa County jury acquitted her of three other counts.

The case stemmed from a 2021 breach of Mesa County’s election system. Peters and others arranged for an outside man to obtain a county security badge under another person’s identity and attend a sensitive voting-system software update. Photos taken during that update were posted online, a breach that forced Mesa County to discard its voting equipment and buy new machines. The effort was part of Peters’s attempt to find evidence of fraud in the 2020 election. Local prosecutors investigated the fraud claims and found nothing.

In December, President Trump issued Peters a presidential pardon. Because she was convicted of state crimes and not federal crimes, that pardon had no legal effect, a point the Colorado Court of Appeals reaffirmed in its April ruling. The governor’s commutation, not the president’s pardon, is what will release her.

The story remains active. A resentencing date before Judge Barrett had not been set when Polis acted, and the practical effect of the commutation is that Peters will leave prison on parole June 1.