Gov. Jared Polis granted clemency to Tina Peters even after his own Clemency Board had recommended denial twice and did so unanimously. The board members said it plainly: Peters was recommended for denial, then the board voted no again. Twice. Unanimously.
That is why her name is drawing attention now. In Colorado, clemency is supposed to be the last stop for most applicants, the point at which the governor either accepts or rejects a recommendation that has already survived a long review. The board members said many applicants reach that point only after exhausting appeals, sentence challenges, motions, petitions and post-conviction relief, which is part of why a governor’s override is unusual enough to stand out.
The board that reviewed Peters’s case is responsible for making recommendations on commutation, a pardon or nothing at all, and its members said clemency in Colorado can take one to three years. They also said most applicants must navigate the process alone, while the state public defender’s office has described it as “nearly impossible” for people without legal representation. By that measure, the board’s unanimous rejection carried real weight before Polis set it aside.
The decision also sat against a wider picture the board itself put on the record. It said Hispanic Coloradans make up roughly 21% of the state’s population but over 32% of its male prison population, while Black Coloradans make up 4.5% of the population and 18% of its male prison population. Those figures do not explain Peters’s case, but they show why the board says clemency decisions should be judged strictly on merit, without fear or favor, rather than on who can push hardest at the end of the process.
That is where the friction lies. The board said its role was to review hundreds of applications and advise the governor, and the members said the governor granted Peters clemency anyway. The public record in this case now shows a unanimous denial from the Clemency Board and an opposite outcome from Polis, leaving the most important unanswered question not whether Peters was helped, but why the governor was willing to go against the recommendation his own board gave him twice.
