Trump-loving ex-clerk deemed a flight risk ahead of criminal resentencing

The far-right former elections clerk of Mesa County, Colorado, got fresh bad news on Wednesday, as a state judge ruled her too much of a flight risk to be granted bond ahead of her re-sentencing.

According to Marshall Zelinger of 9NEWS Denver, Tina Peters' motion "to have an appeal bond is DENIED by Judge Matthew Barrett, who sentenced her and will resentence her. Among the reasons: 1. Can't say Peters would not flee 2. Can't say Peters would not commit another offense."

This comes after Barrett already denied Peters' motion to compel him to recuse himself. She had argued his use of "harsh language" in trial proceedings was an indication he was not impartial.

Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2024 over a scheme in which she tampered with local election equipment to try to prove President Donald Trump's conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was somehow stolen from him. Since then, Trump and his associates have been pressuring the state of Colorado to grant her clemency; Democratic Gov. Jared Polis has suggested this is on the table if she shows remorse for her crimes, citing what he considers her unusually long sentence.

Earlier this month, a state appellate court voided Peters' sentence, finding that Barrett's reliance on Peters' pro-Trump remarks to prove a lack of remorse for her offenses was effectively an unconstitutional punishment against her freedom of speech.

The ruling did not vacate her conviction outright, but sent the case back to Barrett for re-sentencing, which will likely lead to a shorter prison term than she was initially given.