Last week, former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ appeals were heard by a Colorado appellate court. During the hearing, Senior Assistant Attorney General Lisa Michaels was grilled by the judges regarding several issues with Peters’ trial and her sentencing.
Those issues revolved around the failure to articulate a “benefit” for one of her felony charges, an essential element of the charge. Another argument was that the jury was instructed that one charge was a felony but the inclusion of the word “might” was applicable only to a misdemeanor charge, as mentioned in the clip below.
The judges also grilled the sentencing remarks from the trial judge, Matthew Barrett, for considering conduct that was not charged and was not permitted to be presented in her case, specifically regarding whether or not there had been election fraud in Mesa County or Colorado.
Tina Peters Appeals Clip:
One of the charges was COMPLETELY misrepresented to the jury as a FELONY when it was actually the verbiage of a MISDEMEANOR!
This could potentially lead to a mistrial of the whole case! pic.twitter.com/ZxpOMJQFUq
— CannCon (@CannConActual) January 15, 2026
Peters now has additional problems following the seemingly successful appellate hearing. She is being accused of allegedly assaulting a fellow inmate on Sunday evening.
According to Tina Peters' official X account, she was "assaulted by another inmate at approximately 9pm MT in La Vista Correctional Facility."
Peters was inside a maintenance closet filling up a water unit when she was struck by another inmate. Peters "raised her hands and pushed the inmate away," an incident which was caught on camera, but apparently did not capture the assault that took place inside the closet.
As a result, she was placed on lock down and informed that she was being charged with felony assault.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: TINA PETERS ASSAULTED
Last night, Tina Peters was assaulted at approximately 9PM MT in La Vista Correctional Facility.
Tina was inside a maintenance closet to fill up a water unit when an inmate approached her in the closet and began striking her in…
— Tina Peters Whistleblower of fallen Navy SEAL (@realtinapeters) January 19, 2026
Peters, a 70 year-old Gold Star mom with no criminal record was convicted of non-violent crimes and sentenced to nine years in a Colorado prison in October 2024.
During the appellate hearing last week, her attorney argued that Peters was being held in a medium-security prison with "murders" and other violent offenders because Colorado only has four minimum-security prisons, all of which are designated for men.
Update: this story was updated to change 'solitary confinement' to 'lock down' as La Vista "does not utilize solitary confinement" according to a statement from a prison spokesperson.
