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Former Colorado elections clerk Tina Peters is asking the state appeals court to recognize the pardon she issued donald trump To recognize his state commitments as legitimate.
In a motion, his lawyers argue that the court lacks jurisdiction because of Trump’s December 5 pardon, seeking to release him from prison.
Ms PetersThe former Mesa County clerk was convicted of state crimes for carrying out a data breach scheme motivated by false claims about 2020 election voting machine fraud.
The pardon power of the US President does not generally extend to state crimes.
His legal team cited President George Washington’s pardon for state and federal crimes in the Whiskey Rebellion of 1795.
He urged for a speedy decision, setting January 14 as the date for the appeal of his conviction with arguments.
The appeals court, defending the conviction, gave lawyers from the state attorney general’s office until January 8 to respond to Ms. Peters’ pleas. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser had already rejected clemency, saying: “The idea that a president could pardon someone who was tried and convicted in a state court has no precedent in American law, it would be an outrageous deviation from the requirements of our Constitution, and it would be upheld.” Will not be kept.” His office declined further comment.
If the appeals court finds the pardon invalid, Peter Ticktin, one of Ms. Peters’s lawyers, said she could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Another attorney, John Case, sought his release from state prison based on Trump’s pardon, but the state refused, an email filed with the court shows.
Earlier this month, Ms. Peters lost a federal court bid for release from prison. He claims that the state judge who sentenced him to nine years in prison violated his First Amendment rights by punishing him for election fraud charges.
At sentencing in October 2024, Judge Matthew Barrett called Ms Peters a “charlatan” and said she posed a danger to the community because of her spread of lies.
Ms Peters was unapologetic, insisting that her actions were to root out what she believed to be fraud and were done for the wider good.
Ms Peters was convicted of allowing a person to misuse a security card to access the election system and being misleading about her identity.
The man was affiliated with MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell, a key promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from Donald Trump.