DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis reduced Tina Peters’ sentence by half on Friday, ignoring months of pleas against such an action by many other Colorado elected officials and the prosecutor who won the former county clerk’s conviction in an election data-breach scheme.

In a letter to Peters, Polis wrote that she will “be released on parole effective June 1, 2026” — in just more than two weeks.

The commutation, which was announced in a group of 44 clemency actions Friday afternoon, reduced Peters’ original sentence of nearly nine years, which was thrown out last month, to about 4.5 years. Polis’ action, coming after more than a year of pressure from President Donald Trump — and several actions taken targeting the state — risked the appearance that he was bending to Trump’s demands. But in an interview with The Denver Post ahead of the announcement, the governor was resolute.

Peters, the former Mesa County clerk, has been a public supporter of election conspiracies rooted in Trump’s reelection loss in 2020. But Polis said that “just because somebody believes the Earth is flat — just because somebody believes in conspiracy theories — does not mean that they should receive a harsher sentence for a very specific crime.”

Polis’ action drew swift reaction from other elected Democrats. Attorney General Phil Weiser, in an interview, called the commutation “an insult,” “mind-boggling” and “a threat to the rule of law.” And Secretary of State Jena Griswold called Polis’ decision “an affront to democracy” and accused the governor of “selling out our state justice system to cave to a vengeful president.”

Griswold, the state’s top elections official, said in an interview that she’d had one conversation with Polis about his decision — and it occurred at 2 p.m. Friday, less than an hour before the news broke.

“It tells a lawless president that if he pushes hard enough, he’ll get his way,” she said. “And that is dangerous for the rule of law.”

Polis’ action also drew condemnation from the Colorado County Clerks Association, which said in a statement: “We are furious, disgusted, and deeply disappointed by the Governor’s decision. We have met with him privately to make our position unmistakably clear: Tina Peters deserves the accountability imposed through Colorado’s judicial system, and the Governor should, at the very least, respect that process and allow it to fully play out before intervening.”

Trump, for his part, quickly posted a short reaction on his platform Truth Social: “FREE TINA!”

Last month, the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed Peters’ eight-year prison term, which was part of an overall nine-year sentence, and ordered a Mesa County judge to resentence her. But that hasn’t yet happened, and Peters’ attorneys also still have time to further appeal her convictions.

Peters, 70, has been serving her sentence since October 2024. She would’ve been eligible for parole in late 2028 under her original sentence — notwithstanding the appeals court’s reversal.

Griswold noted that, following Trump’s mass pardoning of Jan. 6 rioters last year, Peters was among the few people still serving prison time for crimes related to election interference and conspiracies. Her release had been a key priority for those who still back Trump’s baseless election claims, with Peters and her supporters repeatedly referring to her as a political prisoner and as a whistle-blower.

For months, Polis had publicly hinted that he would reduce Peters’ sentence. On Friday, Polis quoted from the recent appeals court’s decision, which said Peters’ original sentence was wrongly based on her exercise of protected free speech, to defend his clemency decision.

She will remain a felon under the commutation, and Polis argued that even her shortened sentence was harsher than what her co-defendants received — just not unduly harsh.

While Peters has not publicly shown contrition for her crimes, Polis said she did so in her clemency application. His office previously denied a public records request for that application.

“It’s important to get past our emotions, which I share, about election conspiracy theories,” Polis said. “I condemn them. I condemn any acts of threats or violence against our incredibly talented election workers on both sides of the aisle.

“And it’s important to look at, as we do in any case, the facts of the case — and make sure that we live in a society that upholds the value of freedom of speech, and that even when somebody holds incorrect and unpopular opinions, that speech is not held against them in a sentencing.”

Dan Rubinstein, the Republican Mesa County district attorney who prosecuted Peters, called Polis’ decision arrogant and “irresponsible.” He also questioned the timing of the decision, given that the district court judge had not yet issued a new sentence for Peters.

“That process was still underway, yet the Governor chose to substitute his judgment for the courts, the sentencing judge, and the Mesa County community that bore the consequences of Ms. Peters’ actions,” Rubinstein said in a statement. “It is especially troubling that notoriety, political pressure and powerful allies appear to have produced special treatment that ordinary defendants would never receive.”

Three legal experts also told The Denver Post that the timing of Polis’ decision was odd, with resentencing still pending. These industry-watchers said they could not think of another state-level case in which someone was given clemency in the middle of such proceedings.

To Jonathon J. Booth, an associate professor of law at the University of Colorado, the governor’s actions can best be compared to Trump pardoning the Jan. 6 insurrectionists for their roles in the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“We have a choice whether we want to punish these actions harshly or not,” he said. “It seems Polis and Trump are on the same side of that question.”

After the commutation was announced, a statement by Peters that was posted to social media said: “I made mistakes, and for those I am sorry.”

She acknowledged misleading Griswold, the secretary of state, to give another person unauthorized access to county voting equipment, and she promised “to avoid the mistakes of the past.”

“Upon release, I plan to do my best through legal means to support election integrity and based on my own personal experiences to elevate the cause of prison reform to help ensure the detention system is more fair and equitable for people of all ages,” Peters wrote.

Directly above her apology was a pinned post from March declaring, “SOS Jena deleted election records! This is why the dems don’t want to get rid of the machines and pass the Save America Act! This is why they won’t turn over the voter data! They cheat and Tina Peters caught them!”

A jury found Peters guilty in August 2024 of providing a person outside the clerk’s office — who was affiliated with noted election-denier Mike Lindell — with access to Mesa County’s voting systems after the 2020 election, as part of Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud.

The former clerk was convicted of three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.

Polis’ decision comes two days after the annual state legislative session adjourned — meaning that the governor appeared to have timed the commutation for when Democratic lawmakers, who had blasted him for even considering intervening, could no longer take any action to formally condemn him. Polis is term-limited, so lawmakers will not convene for another regular session until after he has left office.

Lawmakers sent the governor a letter in March, urging him not to release Peters early, and some had discussed holding a formal vote to censure him if he went ahead with commuting or pardoning the former clerk. Some lawmakers were told Friday morning that Polis planned to make an announcement about Peters' sentence later in the day.

"This is a slap in the face to everyone who actually cares about election integrity and an independent judiciary," Rep. Steven Woodrow, a Democrat, said Friday afternoon after Polis' announcement. "The governor should be ashamed. He cowered to bullies and our democracy is weaker today as a result."

The commutation was also apparently not communicated well in advance to various outside officials, including Rubinstein.

Matt Crane, the executive director of the clerks association, said Polis' office "went dark" on Thursday afternoon as rumors began to spread about impending action. Polis finally called shortly after 2 p.m. Friday for a brief conversation, he said, before hanging up to make a public appearance.

"It’s incredibly discouraging when he’s more worried about the optics and legacy and interviewing with reporters, rather than the stakeholders who are going to be impacted most," Crane said. He added that he'd "heard from some clerks who've questioned: 'If nobody is going to have our backs, and we’re in this alone, why should we keep doing it?' "

Polis said Friday that "my judgment is not based on what I hear from other people," whether it was from people who wanted Peters' sentence upheld, lessened or wiped away. That included the Republican president, who has claimed to pardon Peters — a power he does not have for state-level convictions — and who said on New Year's Eve that he hoped Polis and others would "rot in hell" for Peters' sentence.

Around that same time, Polis' office sought input on Peters' clemency application from District Court Judge Matthew Barrett, who sentenced Peters. In a Jan. 13 letter to the governor obtained by The Post, Barrett wrote that Polis' chief legal counsel had spoken with him about the application, as required under Colorado law. Barrett wrote that he had "carefully considered" Peters' personal circumstances before sentencing her, as well as "her lack of accountability."

"I chose a sentence in roughly the midpoint of the presumptive ranges that this state's General Assembly has set," the judge wrote.

He told the governor that he would respect whatever decision Polis made and that he trusted any decision would be made "for the right reasons."

"I'm hopeful that my decision today will restore the confidence that the people of Colorado have that, regardless of their political opinions or beliefs, they will receive equal justice under the law," Polis said Friday.

The initial response from high-level officials went in the opposite direction.

At a debate earlier this month, both Democrats hoping to succeed Polis in the governor's office — Weiser and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet — agreed that Peters' original sentence was appropriate. In a statement after the news broke Friday, Bennet said he "vehemently disagrees" with the commutation.

"Lawlessness only breeds more lawlessness," Bennet said. "With President Trump continuing to attack Colorado, we must do everything we can to stand strong for our institutions and the rule of law.”

Weiser said the governor gave him a short heads-up that he had made his decision. About 30 minutes after the news was public, Weiser said he was still "somewhat in shock that it actually happened."

Polis announced Peters' commutation as part of a slate of clemency decisions on Friday. In addition to Peters, Polis commuted the sentences of eight other inmates, including people who had been sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder charges, and pardoned 35 people.

One of these individuals, Brandin Eugene Kreuzer, will be released on parole June 1 after serving 15 years of a 50-year sentence following a 2010 conviction for shooting a Douglas County deputy during a monthlong crime spree.

Polis also commuted the sentence of Matthew Aldaz, who sued the governor in 2020 over allegations that COVID-19 posed a significant health risk behind bars. Aldaz had served 13 years in prison for second-degree murder. He will be released on parole June 1.

Polis has typically announced commutations and pardons around the holidays at the end of each year, which he did not do in December amid renewed pressure from the Trump administration.

He says he is still reviewing other clemency applications and plans to announce others before he leaves office in January.

Despite the intense public and private pressure and months of open consideration for granting Peters clemency, Polis said other commutations, particularly those in cases involving the loss of life, were much harder decisions.

In the 19 months since she was sentenced, neither Peters nor her legal team had shown any contrition publicly — at least before Friday — for the conduct that led to her felony convictions. Indeed, just last week, her supporters published an apparent letter she'd written to Trump, in which she calls herself a political prisoner and repeats election conspiracy theories.

Peters received at least four negative write-ups during her first year in prison. In January, surveillance footage showed Peters grabbing and shoving a fellow inmate during a brief scuffle in a prison common area. Peters was later found not guilty of assault but was found guilty of a lesser charge.

As he has faced pressure from the president, Polis has said he would not release Peters as part of any sort of deal with the Trump administration. Other officials, including Bennet, have accused Trump of retaliating against the state for its refusal to release Peters.

Since last fall, federal officials announced the dismantling of Boulder's National Center for Atmospheric Research, while Trump vetoed a bipartisan bill to help pay for a water pipeline in southeastern Colorado, and his administration halted and stripped federal funding for state programs.

Federal officials have also threatened to undercut the state's wolf reintroduction program, hampering an effort that's been embraced by Polis' husband, Marlon Reis.

It was unclear if Polis' commutation decision would ease or reverse any of those moves. A request for comment sent to the White House on Friday was met with a simple response: a link to Trump's brief pro-Peters Truth Social post.

-----------

©2026 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at denverpost.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.