Colorado Governor Jared Polis just threw a grenade into one of the state’s most divisive cases. On March 3, he posted on X comparing the light probation given to a Democratic state senator with the nine-year prison term handed to former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters for the same felony class. The internet exploded. Now the district attorney is pushing back hard, Peters’ lawyer is begging for mercy, and Coloradans are asking one raw question: Is justice blind, or just selective?
The single post has already been viewed millions of times and forced the governor to extend the clemency deadline to April 3. What happens next could redefine how Colorado treats election skeptics versus everyone else.
Polis Calls Out “Uneven” Justice in Blunt X Post
Polis wrote: “and yet Tina Peters, as a non-violent first time offender got a nine year sentence. Justice in Colorado and America needs to be applied evenly, you never know when you might need to depend on the rule of law.”
He was referencing former state Senator Sonya Jaquez Lewis, who pleaded guilty to the exact same charge, attempting to influence a public servant, but walked away with probation.
The governor’s words landed like a punch. Conservative accounts immediately declared vindication. Progressive voices accused him of coddling an election denier. Within hours #FreeTinaPeters started trending in Colorado circles on X.
District Attorney Rubinstein: “These Cases Are Night and Day”
21st Judicial District Attorney Dan Rubinstein did not mince words when I spoke with him Tuesday.
“The senator’s case had zero victims,” Rubinstein told me. “No financial loss, no one hurt, no county dragged through hell.”
Peters’ actions, he said, cost Mesa County taxpayers more than $1.4 million in new voting equipment alone, plus untold damage to public trust.
“She was the one person elected to protect our elections, and she secretly let conspiracy theorists copy Dominion machines and posted passwords online for the world to see,” Rubinstein said. “That’s not civil disobedience. That’s sabotage.”
He pointed out judges have wide discretion on this felony, from probation up to six years, but Peters faced multiple counts and showed zero remorse at sentencing.
Rubinstein confirmed he has already met personally with Governor Polis.
“The governor told me directly he has no intention of pardoning her,” Rubinstein said. “I’m asking him to respect Judge Barrett’s ruling and leave the sentence alone.”
Peters’ Attorney Ticktin: “She’s No Criminal, She’s a Patriot”
From his Florida office, attorney Peter Ticktin sounded almost emotional when we talked.
“Tina never hurt a soul,” Ticktin said. “Her ‘crime’ was letting a trusted surrogate make a forensic image of the system before updates wiped potential evidence. The only lie was using a fake name on his badge. Who did that harm?”
He described his client, now 69 years old, as frail, devout, and shattered by prison.
“She’s never had so much as a speeding ticket in her life,” Ticktin said. “She told the judge that if she could do it over, she’d do it differently, but she still believes she was protecting voters.”
Ticktin is not asking for a full pardon. He wants commutation, a reduction to time served or home detention. “Governor Polis is going to do the right thing,” he predicted. “He has to.”
From Gold-Star Clerk to Convicted Felon: How Peters Fell
Once celebrated as Mesa County’s clerk, Peters became radicalized after attending Mike Lindell’s 2021 Cyber Symposium. She grew convinced Dominion machines flipped votes.
In May 2021, she allowed Conan Hayes, a former surfer tied to Lindell’s circle, to access secure areas using a badge reading “John Wilson.” They made images of the hard drives before a routine software update.
Those images ended up posted on Telegram channels alongside passwords that let anyone pretend to be a Mesa County election official online.
The breach forced Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold to decertify Mesa County’s equipment and buy all new machines at taxpayer expense.
Peters was convicted in August 2024 on seven of ten counts. At sentencing in October, Judge Matthew Barrett called her actions “a breach of trust of monumental proportions” and showed video of Peters smirking and laughing in court.
Will Polis Actually Free Colorado’s Most Famous Election Denier?
Sources close to the governor’s office say Polis is personally reviewing dozens of clemency applications before he leaves office in January 2027. Peters is now near the top of that stack.
The political calculus is brutal. Granting relief risks infuriating Democrats who see Peters as patient zero for election chaos in Colorado. Denying it hands Republicans a martyr and fresh ammunition against “two-tiered justice.”
One thing is certain: whatever Polis decides by April 3 will ripple far beyond Colorado’s borders. It will signal whether Democratic governors are willing to extend mercy to January 6-adjacent figures when the cameras are off and Trump is back in the White House.
Tina Peters sits in prison tonight because she believed the system was rigged. Now the system has to decide if nine years is justice or vengeance.
What do you think Colorado should do? Drop your take in the comments, and if you’re fired up, use #TinaPetersClemency on X and tag the governor. He is watching.
