Appeals court rules Mason, now 49, did not know she was ineligible when she voted in 2016 and throws out conviction

A Texas appeals court has thrown out a five-year prison sentence for Crystal Mason, a Texas woman who was sentenced for trying to cast a provisional ballot in the 2016 presidential election that was rejected.

Mason, now 49, attempted to vote in Fort Worth in the 2016 even though she was ineligible because she was still on supervised release – which is like probation – for a tax felony. She has always maintained she had no idea she was ineligible and only tried to cast a ballot because her mother urged her to.

A judge convicted her in a 2018 trial that lasted just a few hours.

    • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
      395·
      7 months ago

      For nearly the entire time, she remained out of prison pending the outcome of her appeal.

      • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
        721·
        7 months ago

        So what? That’s six years of a major life problem she did not deserve. 40k is horseshit (if she’s even successful in getting it awarded), no matter how it may compare to options in other states.

        And I’ll say it - I don’t believe for one second she’d have had this over her head all this time had she been a white registered Republican.

        After Mason was arrested in 2017, she lost her job at a bank. She was also sent back to federal prison for several months for being arrested while on probation for a federal crime. During that time, she almost lost her home to foreclosure.

        “Although I’ve cried for seven years straight, seven nights a week … I’ve also prayed for seven years straight, seven nights a week. Prayed that I would remain a free black woman,” she said in a statement.

        • jkrtn@lemmy.ml
          18·
          7 months ago

          You are correct. There are multiple cases of white Repubs committing voting fraud with full mens rea and they get a slap on the wrist if anything.

        • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
          131·
          7 months ago

          I replied to the suggestion that overturning a five year sentence would be meaningless after six years. In this case it’s not meaningless at all.

      • seth@lemmy.world
        37·
        7 months ago

        So she only needs to sue for a farly partial time of duress and psychological trauma and loss of income from being imprisoned for a crime she didn’t commit.