
Former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters looks on during sentencing for her election interference case at the Mesa County District Court Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Grand Junction, Colo. (Larry Robinson/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel via AP).
The first election official convicted of a felony over 2020 election conspiracy theories promulgated by followers of Donald Trump is appealing an earlier contempt of court ruling in a related case.
Tina Peters, 68, is the former county clerk of Mesa County, Colorado. In August, she was convicted on seven counts of engaging in a security breach — related to unauthorized access to voting machines. In October, after a marathon hearing in which the defendant repeatedly expressed defiance and stuck to her theories, she was sentenced to nine years in state prison for those felony offenses.
While sitting in the gallery during a February 2022 hearing for one of her alleged co-conspirators, Peters allegedly used an iPad to record some of the proceedings. In May 2023, she was found guilty of contempt for that decidedly lesser charge — and fined $1,500.
In June, Peters appealed her contempt citation, with the state filing its reply brief the following month. This week, Peters’ attorney John Case appeared before a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals.