Tina Peters could receive same sentence after re-sentencing ordered by Colorado Court of Appeals
The Colorado Court of Appeals issued a ruling that threw out former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters' sentence, while still upholding her conviction for orchestrating a security breach of her own election system.
The three-judge appeals court panel says Peters' First Amendment rights were violated by Judge Matthew Barrett, the Mesa County district judge who sentenced her.
"The judge was so explicit, and didn't just say, 'I find you unremorseful, but I'm going to punish you because you've been now in public saying these things,'" explains Doug Spencer, a Professor of Law at the University of Colorado.
Although the decision orders a re-sentencing, there's a chance Peters will be handed the same sentence again.
"It merely says if there was some part of the judgment that you added an enhancement based on what you think she said, you need to remove that," said Spencer. "And it's possible, when this goes back to the judge, that he could say, I didn't speak very eloquently, I think this was a just sentence, and I shouldn't have linked it to this speech, and I still would like to uphold the nine-year sentence."
Peters has 42 days to act on the Court of Appeals ruling before her case heads to a lower court for re-sentencing. Judge Barrett, who handed down the original sentence, will likely be the one to do it. However, Peters could try to take it to the State Supreme Court.
Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein doesn't think she's done fighting.
"I think it would be a complete reversal of her entire trial strategy and her belief to all of a sudden accept the Court of Appeals conclusion that she did commit crimes, and there was sufficient evidence to convict her of that, and just abandon that and only contest the length of the sentence," said Rubinstein.
That process could be lengthy. Rubenstein adds that if the case goes to the Supreme Court, Peters could be out before another ruling is made.
"She probably will serve about another 18 months before she's eligible for parole, so it's possible that before the Supreme Court rules, should they accept the case, that she will have completed her sentence," Rubenstein said.
Peter Ticktin, an attorney for Tina Peters, told CBS News Colorado on Thursday that the decision not to throw out her conviction was "terribly disappointing." Ticktin claimed that one of the jurors was biased in Peters's trial, and that it was unfair.
"The Colorado Court of Appeals got it all wrong except for the obvious violation of Tina Peters' First Amendment rights and her sentence, which even Governor Polis could see was unduly harsh," he wrote.
