In a case that has long drawn the ire of voting rights activists, the Texas Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed and acquitted a woman sentenced to five years in prison for illegally casting a provisional ballot in the 2016 election. Ta.
The ruling says the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, misunderstands the illegal voting law that a lower appellate court, the Second Court of Criminal Appeals, convicted Crystal Mason in 2018. The decision was made two years after the decision was made.
Mason, 49, of Fort Worth, was charged with illegally voting by voting provisionally in the 2016 general election while on probation for a felony. The ballot was never officially counted, and Mason claims he did not know he was ineligible to vote, and that he acted on the advice of poll workers who told him he could vote. did.
Mason remains free on bond but has appealed his conviction. In 2020, the Second Circuit ruled that whether she knew she was ineligible to vote was “irrelevant to the prosecution.”
But in 2022, the Court of Criminal Appeals disagreed and asked the lower court to reevaluate the case. Prosecutors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Mason, who was serving a five-year sentence on federal conspiracy charges with three years suspended, knew his circumstances made him ineligible to vote. said it was necessary to do so.
In deciding to overturn her conviction and acquit her, the Second Circuit said prosecutors did not have enough evidence to prove she knew.
A copy of the decision was provided by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Civil Rights Project.
“I've been thrown into this fight over voting rights, and I don't want others to face what I've endured for more than six years, a political maneuver where minority voting rights are under attack,” Mason said. We will continue to shake things up,” he said. Thursday's statement. “For over six years straight, I have cried and prayed every night that I would continue to be a free black woman.”
ACLU attorney Thomas Buzzer-Clancy, who represented Mason, called Mason's victory a victory for democracy.
“We are relieved for Mr. Mason, who feared he would be jailed for five years and separated from his family simply for trying to do his civic duty. We have waited too long.”
The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office, which prosecuted Mason, had no comment as of late Thursday night.
Prosecutors argued that they had reason to believe that Mason knew she was committing a crime when she read the provisional ballot that listed her eligibility requirements.
Mr. Mason's conviction has become a flashpoint for voting rights activists, who say his case highlights the complexities of voting laws for people with criminal convictions; He said he did.
