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Judge Barrett denies Tina Peters bond, calls future appeals “frivolous”
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Judge Barrett denies Tina Peters bond, calls future appeals “frivolous”

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Tina Peters will not be released from custody. Judge Matthew Barrett denied her renewed motion for bond pending appeal Tuesday morning—two days after refusing to step aside from her case. The nine-page order keeps Peters in prison while her legal team prepares to take the bond question to the Colorado Court of Appeals, the same panel that threw out her sentence earlier this month. Barrett did not hold a hearing. He found he could not conclude Peters is unlikely to flee, called her future appeals "frivolous" and said they would be pursued "for the purpose of delay." "Finality is critical to the resolution of the judicial process," Barrett wrote, "and it would be contrary to the law to ignore the reality that Defendant would use all mean...
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Beyond the “kill switch”: How modern vehicles are already tracking drivers
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Beyond the “kill switch”: How modern vehicles are already tracking drivers

By Maria Orms | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Many people are talking about the “car surveillance” provision in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which directs regulators to develop technology that can monitor driver impairment—such as passively detecting blood alcohol levels. This has led to claims about a government “kill switch.” But what’s less widely discussed is that forms of remote connectivity and control have already been built into vehicles for over a decade. Since the 2010s, automakers have steadily integrated cellular connectivity—first 3G, then 4G LTE, and now 5G—into modern vehicles. Systems like OnStar and similar platforms allow cars to communicate with external networks. These connections enable features like emergency assistance, navigation up...
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The $3M campaign behind Colorado’s CoCo rail tax proposal
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The $3M campaign behind Colorado’s CoCo rail tax proposal

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado Department of Transportation had options when describing what $3 million in state transportation funds would buy. Public education. A feasibility study. Community engagement. It called it a Ballot Access Plan. That language — "develop a Ballot Access Plan and Implementation of the Plan" — sits in the purpose clause of a contract which took effect on March 26, 2026 between CDOT and the Front Range Passenger Rail District, the latter established by the legislature in 2021 to plan and eventually build passenger rail along the I-25 corridor. RMV obtained the contract through a public records request. If voters approve a sales tax increase this November, the district would use those funds — along with money ...
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Judge Barrett refuses to step aside in Peters case, defends sentencing math
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Judge Barrett refuses to step aside in Peters case, defends sentencing math

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Judge Matthew Barrett denied Tina Peters' motion to disqualify him on Monday afternoon. In a 16-page order, he accepted every factual claim in the defense affidavits as true, then concluded none of them meet the legal standard for recusal. In a footnote on page 15, he answered the math the defense had used to challenge his letter to the governor. Barrett's order, filed at 3:37 p.m., clears the procedural condition he had cited as the reason he could not rule on Peters' renewed motion for bond pending appeal.  The bond question now sits on his desk under the 48-hour window Colorado Appellate Rule 9(b) sets for ruling on bond pending appeal. The defense's reply on that motion, filed late Sunday night, set up the dispute that follows—a fa...
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The lobbying blueprint behind Colorado’s parental rights erosion
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The lobbying blueprint behind Colorado’s parental rights erosion

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Editor’s note, April 28, 2026: HB26-1322 passed the House on April 2 and cleared Senate Judiciary on April 27. It is under Senate consideration. HB26-1309 passed House Judiciary on March 31 and is in House Appropriations. In 2019, a team of lawyers at one of the world's largest firms produced a document explaining, in precise detail, how to change the law around children and gender without the public knowing it was happening. That document is now a lens through which Colorado's last three legislative sessions make a different kind of sense. Formally titled "Only Adults? Good Practices in Legal Gender Recognition for Youth," the 65-page report was produced pro bono by Dentons — the world's largest law firm by att...
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The empty pail: The first step up the mountain
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Devotional, Top Stories

The empty pail: The first step up the mountain

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”~ Matthew 4:17 ~ “Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water…” Continuing with last devotion’s rhyme, we often remember the fall… but rarely ask the deeper question: What if they made it to the top… but never learned how to draw from the well? Because in the life of following Jesus, the issue is not whether we’ve started the climb—it’s whether we are being formed and becoming who we need to be as we go to do what God needs us to do. The first step toward becoming the person or leader you aspire to be is recognizing the mountain climb—the mountain of life—beginning with the one who gives life, now and always. When Jesus began His ministry, He didn’t start with a detaile...
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If the state can take property without a conviction, no property is safe
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

If the state can take property without a conviction, no property is safe

By Rep. Ken DeGraaf | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Civil asset forfeiture began as a narrow exception in colonial maritime law, not as a general tool of domestic policing. In those early admiralty cases, the government often had jurisdiction over the ship or cargo, but not over the owner. The vessel might be in port, but the owner could be overseas, unknown, or beyond the reach of the court. In that circumstance, proceeding against the property itself—an action in rem—was often the only practical way to enforce customs law.  Justice Neil Gorsuch recently highlighted this history in his concurrence in Culley v. Marshall and asked the obvious question: if the government today has full jurisdiction over the person—if it can arrest, charge, and prosecute them directly—...
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Trump’s DOJ joins xAI suit against Colorado AI law as Weiser agrees to halt enforcement
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Trump’s DOJ joins xAI suit against Colorado AI law as Weiser agrees to halt enforcement

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado attorney general agreed last week to stop enforcing the state's landmark artificial intelligence law. Not because a court told him to. Because he agreed to it himself. That voluntary freeze, formalized in a joint filing with plaintiff xAI LLC, came the same afternoon the U.S. Department of Justice moved to join the lawsuit challenging SB24-205 — Colorado's AI consumer protection law set to take effect June 30.  Chief Judge Daniel D. Domenico granted both the intervention and the standstill within hours. The scheduling conference set for June 16 is gone. Case deadlines are suspended. The courtroom is waiting on a legislature that has 16 days left in its session and a replacement bill that still hasn't ...
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Peters’ defense says Barrett used facts that were never in evidence
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Peters’ defense says Barrett used facts that were never in evidence

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The state said Judge Matthew Barrett's sentencing remarks about Tina Peters were harsh words from the bench, not evidence of bias. Peters' legal team answered with a different question: how did the judge know she appeared on podcasts? Where did he get the words "snake oil" and "junk"? The state's response did not touch that argument. The judge being asked to step aside will decide it. Three filings hit the Mesa County docket between late Thursday and Friday morning. District Attorney Dan Rubinstein's office opposed Peters' motion to disqualify Barrett. Her attorneys replied by introducing a theory the state never touched—that Barrett's sentencing comments relied on an "extrajudicial source," meaning information the judge obtained from out...
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Take back Colorado starts local: Brandon Wark on the fight ahead
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Take back Colorado starts local: Brandon Wark on the fight ahead

By RMV Staff As another contentious session winds toward its May 13 close, a familiar question is surfacing among voters: Can the state's direction actually be changed — and if so, how? In the latest episode of Unleashed, Heidi Ganahl sits down with Brandon Wark, founder of Free State Colorado and one of the most trusted voices covering the State Capitol, to unpack what just happened under the gold dome and what it means for 2026. https://youtu.be/YbE8jSDBl8k?si=_SR9H1mLqIpRljzI Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1va71RcfXCn6Tcq03hBRcg?si=N2g-kLW_S9u2AJs_jqSwIA  Watch on Rumble: https://rumble.com/v78s3vw-unleashed-with-heidi-ganahl-take-back-colorado-starts-local-brandon-wark-on.html A tough session and bigger concerns A third-ge...
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