The Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday ordered a new sentencing for Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk who is serving a nearly nine-year sentence for mishandling election equipment as she sought evidence of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. 

While the Colorado Court of Appeals judges upheld Peters' conviction, they said the judge in her 2024 sentencing should not have considered her continued promotion of election fraud claims, The Associated Press reported.

In a 74-page ruling released Thursday, Judge Ted Tow wrote, "The court committed a clear error by basing its sentence, even in part, on Ms. Peters’ exercise of her free speech rights."

The Court of Appeals sent Peters’ case back to the lower court for a judge to resentence her.

Peters, 70, was convicted of three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree official misconduct, one count of first-degree official misconduct, one count of violation of official duty, and one count of failure to comply with a demand from the secretary of state.

She allegedly allowed an outside computer expert to secretly access her county's election computer system and make a copy of it during a software update.

The Court of Appeals determined that the ruling punished Peters for speaking out about allegations of fraud in the 2020 election.

President Trump pressured Peters to be released, accepting the will of MAGA voters. The federal Department of Justice intervened in an effort to get her released while her state appeal was pending, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons also tried to get Peters transferred to a federal prison, all to no avail.

President Trump announced a pardon for Peters in December. However, the court dismissed it, stating that the president's pardon power did not apply to state-level crimes.

US NNP=Sung Ku Hong, Chief Editor / Special Correspondent for this newspaper NNP info@newsandpost.com