{"id":470,"date":"2025-03-19T10:01:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T11:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spanishliteratureintranslation.com\/?p=470"},"modified":"2025-03-19T18:14:56","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T18:14:56","slug":"opinion-polis-should-end-the-persecution-of-tina-peters-with-clemency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/spanishliteratureintranslation.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/19\/opinion-polis-should-end-the-persecution-of-tina-peters-with-clemency\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Polis should end the persecution of Tina Peters with clemency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: This column ran as a pro-con with another column that opposed the possibility of Gov. Jared Polis granting clemency to Tina Peters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Tina Peters served as the clerk and recorder of Mesa County \u2013 the official responsible for running the county’s elections. Like many Americans in 2020, she had questions about election integrity. During an election software update, she gave someone else’s election security credential to a man she trusted. This individual took pictures of source codes, which should be open anyway, and published them. This action impacted no votes and occurred after the election. For that, 69-year-old Peters sits in the Larimer County jail, just a few months into the first part of her 9-year sentence.<\/p>\n

Nine years. Nearly a decade in prison. At 69 years old. That is staggering when compared to the treatment of someone who casts a vote illegally<\/a> — such as an illegal immigrant \u2014 would receive. Yet, Democrat Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Secretary of State Jena Griswold were effusive in their praise of the shocking sentence given by Mesa County District Judge Matthew Barrett. The prosecution was cloaked in \u201cbipartisanship\u201d thanks to the participation of Republican (snake) Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubenstein.<\/p>\n

Judge Barrett called Peters\u2019 reputation \u201cpoor\u201d at her sentencing, which is rich coming from a local Colorado judge receiving below-average ratings from attorneys<\/a> on his “judgment in the application of relevant law and rules.” Of much more concern are Judge Barrett\u2019s sentence and reasoning for the punishment. During the sentencing, Judge Barrett claimed that Peters had \u201cpreached lies.\u201d He also accused her of \u201cundermin[ing]\u201d the democratic process. Peters, like many Americans, believes that the 2020 election was stolen. Her belief is not a crime. Her expression of it is not a crime. In fact, it\u2019s her constitutional right. That view should have had no impact on her sentence.<\/p>\n

Defendants should receive punishment for what is done illegally, not for speech protected by the First Amendment. Even more egregiously, Judge Barrett denied Peters bail pending appeal, determining that the 69-year-old woman with no criminal history was somehow a danger to the community. Peters is not a violent criminal; rather, she acted on views that Judge Barrett does not like. Judge Barrett abused his power to deprive her of her freedom. Judge Barrett\u2019s actions undermined democracy, not Peters\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Peters case illustrates another example of the weaponized justice system that President Donald Trump vowed to clean up during the 2024 campaign. Democrat Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, through staggering incompetence at a minimum, allowed election machine passwords to get published online for public consumption for four months. She has not faced — nor will she face \u2014 any criminal liability, much less nearly a decade in prison. Tina Peters has suffered significantly while in custody. Her attorney has said both her mental and physical health has declined<\/a>. She is being monitored for a recurrence of her lung cancer, and she also has to deal with the effects of fibromyalgia. Judge Barrett\u2019s cruel, sadistic, and partisan sentence also has deprived Peters of the ability to see her 95-year-old mother.<\/p>\n