Tina Peters is 73 years old, a cancer survivor, and sitting in a Colorado prison for demanding honest elections.
Last week, a Democrat state senator convicted of four felonies walked out of court with probation.
Polis just pointed at that case – and sent his clearest signal yet that Peters is getting out.
Tina Peters Got 9 Years and Sonya Jaquez Lewis Got Probation for the Same Charge
Former state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis was convicted in January of four felonies – including the same charge that put Tina Peters behind bars.
She fabricated letters of support to dodge a Senate ethics investigation into claims she abused her staff.
Last Friday, a Denver judge sentenced her to two years' probation, 150 hours of community service, and a $3,000 fine.
No prison.
Tina Peters, a first-time nonviolent offender, got nine years.
Both women were convicted of the same charge – attempting to influence a public official.
The Democrat got probation.
The Republican Trump ally got nearly a decade behind bars.
Jared Polis Signals Clemency for Tina Peters in Strongest Statement Yet
Gov. Jared Polis posted on X Tuesday night and didn't hide what he was thinking.
"It is not lost on me that she was convicted of the exact same felony charge as Tina Peters – attempting to influence a public official – and yet Tina Peters, as a non-violent first time offender, got a nine year sentence," Polis wrote.
He extended the clemency application deadline to April 3 and said he will be making decisions throughout the remainder of his governorship.
9News journalist Kyle Clark called it the "strongest signal yet" that Polis will grant clemency to Peters.
Polis has been calling Peters' sentence "harsh" since January, telling reporters after his State of the State address that the term was "unusual and harsh" for a first-time nonviolent offender.
When asked pointedly whether he would "unequivocally" rule out a pardon or commutation, he refused.
He refused again this week.
Trump Punished Colorado for Not Releasing Tina Peters From Prison
President Trump has been relentless – and he backed it up with action.
He called Polis a "scumbag" on social media and told him and the Republican district attorney who prosecuted Peters to "rot in Hell."
He issued a federal pardon for Peters in December, which legal experts noted has no force against her state conviction.
When Colorado refused to budge, Trump froze federal childcare and food funding, denied disaster relief, announced plans to defund the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, and vetoed a critical clean water project for the state.
Peters has now served more than two years of her nine-year sentence – convicted by a Mesa County jury in a deep-red county, prosecuted by a Republican district attorney.
Colorado's own appeals court raised concerns about the severity of her sentence at oral arguments in January.
The Numbers Are Hard to Ignore
The sentencing disparity is stark, and the Colorado Free Press broke down exactly why.
Prosecutors in Peters' Mesa County case charged her with a separate count of attempting to influence a public official for each individual official she contacted – stacking the charges to maximize exposure.
Denver prosecutors in the Jaquez Lewis case treated the ethics committee as a single official – one count of influence, total.
Same statute. Same felony. Different charging theory. One outcome: probation. Other outcome: prison.
Both approaches are legally permissible under Colorado law.
But one of those defendants is a Democrat who forged letters to shield herself from an ethics probe, while the other is a Republican grandmother who wanted to verify her county's election results.
Polis is in his final year as governor and term-limited out of office after November.
Peters' clemency application is on his desk.
The deadline is April 3.
A Democrat governor in his final year – term-limited, with nothing to lose – just told the entire state that the woman sitting in a Colorado prison got a sentence nine times harsher than a Democrat who forged government documents.
That's not a hint.
That's a governor telling you what he's about to do.
Sources:
- Kyle Clark, "Polis signals possible clemency for Tina Peters," 9News, March 4, 2026.
- Taylor Dolven, "Former Colorado state senator sentenced to probation for fabricating letters amid ethics investigation," The Colorado Sun, February 27, 2026.
- Nick Coltrain, "Former state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis sentenced to probation," The Denver Post, February 27, 2026.
- "Same Statute, Different Outcomes: Jaquez-Lewis Given Probation While Peters Remains in Prison," Colorado Free Press, March 1, 2026.
- "Gov. Polis increasingly indicating some form of clemency for Tina Peters," KOAA News, January 22, 2026.
- Tom Hesse, "Governor Polis calls Tina Peters' prison sentence 'harsh,' renewing clemency conversation," CPR News, January 9, 2026.
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