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Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis commuted the sentence May 15 of Tina Peters, a woman convicted of crimes tied to tampering with Colorado election machines.Peters, who was symbolically pardoned by President Donald Trump, was the first election official to be charged with a security breach after the 2020 presidential election. She was imprisoned for allowing access to data in an attempt to prove baseless election denial conspiracies."I think it's important to send a message that no matter what your beliefs are and what your speech is, you'll be sentenced fairly under the law, and that's really what was called into question in this case," Polis told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview.He noted that an appeals court had separately determined that Peters' approximately nine-year prison sentence was based on improperly considering her free speech. A trial judge was preparing to resentence her when Polis' commutation action came down.Peters will now be released on parole June 1, having served more than four years behind bars.Contributing: Zach Hillstrom and Kathryn Palmer – USA TODAY Network(This is a developing story that will be updated.)
