Prejudiced Jury Instructions in Tina Peters Prosecution (CO)

In People v. Peters, the Colorado Court of Appeals identified a constitutional error in Tina Peters’ sentencing: the trial court had imposed a lengthier sentence based in part on Peters’ post-offense public statements about election fraud rather than solely on her criminal conduct, violating the First Amendment principle that “a sentence based to any degree on activity or beliefs protected by the First Amendment is constitutionally invalid.” The court found it “apparent that the court imposed the lengthy sentence it did because Peters continued to espouse the views that led her to commit these crimes” and that “the tenor of the court’s comments makes clear that it felt the sentence length was necessary, at least in part, to prevent her from continuing to espouse views the court deemed ‘damaging.’