Packer filed appeals on his case on five separate occasions and was roundly denied upon every submission. He sent letters to local newspapers stating he had been unjustly convicted by an unfair and unsympathetic judicial system, and by the ignorant conclusions and judgments of small-minded people. On June 19, 1899, Packer's sentence was officially upheld by the Colorado Supreme Court. Nevertheless, he was paroled on February 8, 1901, following a campaign that was initially spearheaded by an old acquaintance of Packer's named Duane Hatch, who petitioned for his release for nearly a decade before his labors came to the attention of Polly Pry. Packer had served 18 years of his 40-year sentence.