From ethics complaint to felony conviction: How forged letters ended a Colorado lawmaker’s career

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice

The investigation that ended former Colorado Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis’ political career did not begin with police or prosecutors.

It began inside her own office. It ended in a Denver courtroom. There, jurors found the former lawmaker guilty on four felony counts tied to letters submitted during a legislative ethics investigation.

The workplace dispute had become a criminal case. No prison sentence followed. The judge handed down two years’ probation, 150 hours of community service and a $3,000 fine.

Months earlier, aides had begun raising complaints about how Jaquez Lewis ran her office. They accused her of mistreating staff and assigning work unrelated to legislative duties.

Those complaints quickly reached Senate leadership.

Senate leaders responded within weeks. Jaquez Lewis lost her committee assignments and was barred from employing state-paid aides while the allegations were reviewed.

The dispute also drew attention from outside the chamber. The Political Workers Guild urged Senate leadership to investigate.

The complaint the group sent to the Senate centered on one idea: public office is a position of trust. When that trust is abused, the group argued, there should be consequences.

The complaint also pointed to concerns about staff treatment, duties aides were asked to perform and campaign-related activity tied to the office.

At that point, the matter was still being handled as a legislative disciplinary issue.

That changed once the ethics process began.

A Senate ethics investigation takes shape

The Colorado Senate convened an ethics committee to review the allegations.

The panel’s job was to determine whether Jaquez Lewis’ conduct violated the Senate’s standards for elected officials.

During that review, Jaquez Lewis submitted several documents she said showed support from former staff members.

Five letters were provided to the committee as part of her defense.

They were meant to counter the claim that her office had been a hostile workplace.

Instead, the letters created a new problem.

Questions emerge about the letters

Senate legal staff reviewing the documents said at least one letter submitted in a former aide’s name was likely not written by that person.

The former aide whose name appeared on the letter told investigators she didn’t write it and never authorized its submission.

Investigators soon began examining the other letters submitted to the ethics committee as well. Investigators asked Jaquez Lewis to provide confirmation that the people named as authors had actually written them.

What began as a workplace complaint was now raising potential criminal concerns.

Ethics inquiry becomes a criminal referral

Prosecutors said the letters were intended to influence the Senate ethics committee reviewing the allegations against Jaquez Lewis. Attempting to influence a public servant through deception is a felony under Colorado law. As questions about the letters mounted, Senate leaders referred the matter to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

A spokesperson for the Denver district attorney’s office later confirmed how the case arrived. “The matter was referred to us by the State Senate.”

Questions about the letters soon reached prosecutors. Over the next several days — between Jan. 31 and Feb. 11 — investigators began examining the letters themselves and how they had been presented to the ethics committee. The case began to change from that point forward.

Criminal charges filed

The Denver District Attorney’s Office filed charges in July 2025, accusing Jaquez Lewis of attempting to influence a public servant and submitting forged letters during the ethics investigation.

Prosecutors said the letters were intended to make it appear that former aides supported the senator’s conduct even though they had not written the documents attributed to them.

The charge carries significant penalties under Colorado law. Attempting to influence a public servant is a Class 4 felony punishable by two to six years in prison.

“These are public documents,” a prosecutor told jurors during closing arguments. “These people’s reputations matter. She does not get to use their name to advance her own interest.”

Defense attorneys disputed the prosecution’s account of the letters. Jaquez Lewis acknowledged submitting them but said they reflected the views of the people involved.

The jury rejected that argument.

Jury convicts on four felony counts

Jaquez Lewis was already out of the Senate when jurors reached a verdict in January 2026. The ethics investigation was still hanging over the case.

The jury found her guilty on three forgery counts and one count of attempting to influence a public servant.

By sentencing, the story wasn’t really about workplace complaints anymore. It was about what she submitted during the ethics process.

Sentencing emphasizes trust and responsibility

At the February sentencing hearing, Denver District Court Judge Ericka Schutte said the case represented a breach of trust.

“I don’t find it credible that this was a simple mistake,” Schutte said from the bench.

She told the former senator the conduct had “broken bonds of trust.”

Prosecutors did not pursue prison time. They instead asked the judge to require substantial community service, saying it was the appropriate penalty for misusing official proceedings.

Schutte responded with probation—two years, plus 150 hours of community service and a $3,000 fine.

The sentence meant Jaquez Lewis would not serve prison time.

A new political debate emerges

Weeks later, the case entered a different political conversation. Gov. Jared Polis later pointed to the Jaquez Lewis sentence while discussing clemency petitions involving former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.

In a post on X, the governor noted that Jaquez Lewis had been convicted of the same felony charge—attempting to influence a public servant—yet received probation.

“She was convicted of the exact same felony charge as Tina Peters,” Polis wrote.

Last week, former State Senator Sonya Jaquez Lewis was sentenced to probation and community service after being convicted of four felonies including Attempt to Influence a Public Official. She made a horrible mistake, and she was wrong. I hope she learns from this and can rebuild…

— Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) March 4, 2026

The comment has renewed attention on both cases and the different sentences imposed.

That comparison—and how Colorado courts handled two prosecutions involving the same statute—will be examined more closely in Part 2 of this series.

Update: When this article first ran, it was the first of two stories looking at how the same Colorado law led to very different sentencing outcomes. After publication, attorneys for former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters issued a statement addressing the Lewis comparison. That response is covered in a follow-up report: Nine-year sentence questioned: Peters’ attorneys cite contrast with Lewis case.