No bond for former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters as backers go to federal court

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Source: CBS News

Updated on: July 23, 2025 / 6:51 AM MDT


Lawyers for convicted former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters on Tuesday tried to get a federal court in Denver to let her out on bond as they appeal her case in the Colorado State Court of Appeals. But the magistrate judge in federal court said he was not finding any reason to do so. "You're saying put her on bond, and I don't know that there's anything that authorizes that," said US Chief Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak.

Peters is in jail in Larimer County as she serves nine years on a variety of convictions for her role in orchestrating a breach of unauthorized areas of Mesa County's elections office. She was convicted last August of three counts of attempted to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty, and failing to comply with the Colorado Secretary of State.

Attorneys for Peters, who was not brought in for the hearing, are trying to involve federal courts in the review of her state-level convictions. "If there's ever a case in which somebody should be released from jail, it's this one," said attorney Peter Ticktin. Ticktin, a Florida-based attorney and longtime friend of President Donald Trump, said he was willing to drop several claims the magistrate judge said were not yet handled by the State Court of Appeals and should be.

The petitioners are still hoping to claim in federal court that Peters' sentencing in a state court was a violation of her 1st Amendment rights because they claim the judge at her trial factored in the potential that not putting Peters in jail would allow her to speak publicly about the election security. But Varholak said the appeals to Colorado's State Court of Appeals is the place to make that case, and until those appeals are exhausted, he did not want to weigh in.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/no-bond-former-mesa-county-clerk-tina-peters-federal-court/