Tina Peters became famous, or infamous for her antics during the 2020 election. A county election clerk she got wrapped up in Trump’s big lie and committed crimes. Elections, even federal ones are administered by states. She broke Colorado state laws and was tried and convicted of Colorado state crimes. She was sentenced to nine years in prison and is serving her sentence. STATE crimes. However Peters tried to get the federal courts to take jurisdiction in her case and the of course willing AG Pam Bondi had DOJ try to intervene. Their bid just got shut down.
We all know why Peters wanted to get her state case turned into a federal one. If it became a federal case then Trump could, and would (in a heartbeat) not only pardon her but give her a much better paying job in his administration than she used to have. She could parlay THAT into a solid gig on Fox as a pundit and retire in luxury. But she needed those mean old state people in the Colorado justice system to step aside and let the feds take over jurisdiction. Thankfully they said no and took on the DOJ. As this article from The Associated Press informs us the federal Magistrate hearing her appeal firmly told her NO.
Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters filed a federal lawsuit asking that she be released on bond while her appeal is considered. Attorneys for the state had argued the case should be thrown out partly because of a legal doctrine that prevents federal courts from getting involved in pending state criminal cases.
Federal magistrate judge Scott Varholak ruled Monday that Peters didn’t make a case that he should get involved in overturning her state sentence.
The AP article I linked to gives a nice overview and context to this whole kerfuffle. Peters and her prosecution (and conviction) has been a cause for Trump and his gang for years. She’s been loyal as hell and even now is unapologetic in promoting her OPINION that voting machines were rigged and there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Of course she had no more proof than any of the others who went to court around the country were able to produce. In Peter’s case since she couldn’t find any ‘proof’ on her own she illegally gave access to private voter records to what I guess were ‘Trump election fraud experts’ and that’s why she’s in prison.
And it seems that where she’s going to stay. Maybe for the full nine years. In most states inmates become eligible for parole and early release. The thing is Parole Boards expect to see not only a sparkling clean record of behavior while behind bars, they also want to be convinced by the inmate asking to be release on parole to express regret for the crime(s) they are doing time for. Peters, even after all these years has given no indication at all she’s willing to do that.
I should also note that for their part Colorado officials were also cited in the AP article. Clearly they made the more persuasive case to the judge and it’s not hard to understand why. Peters was was after all prosecuted by an elected Republican district attorney, and the three supervisors in her conservative-leaning county also supported the case and defended the integrity of the state’s elections. In other words they told the DOJ and I supposed the federal Magistrate Peters was full of you-know-what. This also stood out to me:
The state objected to the federal government inserting itself, saying the statement the department filed in the case appeared to be a “naked, political attempt” to intimidate the court or Peters’ prosecutors. It unsuccessfully asked for the court to reject it.
Well that’s about as blunt as they could be. They’ve pretty much made that clear all along as this saga has progressed. Peters however has remained defiant. I think, or at least hope the time will come when she regrets it because said defiance wound up chewing off nine years of her worthless ass.
At some point when it settles in that their will be no federalization of her case, and therefore no pardon from Trump she might seek out an inmate with some acting chops to teach her how to convincingly fake remorse at a parole hearing. However after all these years including during her appeal to get her case transferred to the feds she insists there was fraud. And that because of it she’d done nothing wrong and has been unfairly incarcerated.
I don’t know about you, but with so much of that on the record both from Peters and her lawyer, much of in in court she’ll have a wee bit of a credibility problem. Many a parole board has bought bullshit from an inmate and came to regret voting to let them out early. I think it’s rather likely that one or more members of any parole board Peters goes before will remind the others of that – AND have a list of her years of statements. A simple question they can pose is “Is she only now saying she’s sorry because she failed to get her case transferred out of our jurisdiction?” We all know there’s a simple answer to that.
Peters went down to wherever the hell the bottom of the rabbit hole of election denialism is. She’s never coming out. Let’s hope someday parole boards realize that and she does the full nine years.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
FAFO.
Exhibit A.