Crystal Mason's Tarrant County illegal voting case moves to state's highest criminal court
FORT WORTH, Texas - A North Texas woman at the center of an ongoing illegal voting case is asking the Court of Criminal Appeals to confirm her acquittal, a ruling made by Texas' 2nd Court of Appeals.
Crystal Mason’s legal team filed a 63-page brief on her behalf with the state’s highest criminal court on Tuesday.
The petition requests that the court affirm the 2nd Appeals Court's decision.
It further states that the lower court "correctly applied the legal sufficiency standard of review and found the evidence insufficient to sustain Ms. Mason’s conviction for illegal voting."
Not long after the lower court recommended acquittal of Mason’s case in March, the Tarrant County District Attorney filed another challenge to uphold the conviction.
"If the Court of Criminal Appeals finds that the 2nd Court was correct, this case will be over with," said Attorney Russell Wilson, who is not involved in the case yet has followed the developments.
In the 2016 presidential election, Mason cast an illegal ballot in Tarrant County while she was on supervised release for a federal tax crime.
The provisional ballot did not count. It was rejected by the election board.
Still, Mason was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to 5 years in prison.
The 2nd Appeals Court stepped in with a decision that the state failed to prove Mason knew she was ineligible to vote.
"The 2nd Court didn’t necessarily have a dog in the fight, so to speak. They were the judges applying the law. So, at this point, it’s really between whether the 2nd Court of Appeals correctly applied the law in the view of the Court of Criminal Appeals," Wilson said.
After filing their brief with support from the ACLU and the Texas Civil Rights Project, Mason’s legal team shared a video statement from her.
Tarrant County DA defends continued pursuit of Crystal Mason's illegal voting conviction
Tarrant County DA Phil Sorrells responded to questions about why he is pursuing another appeal in Crystal Mason’s illegal voting case.
"Yes, I’ve been very worried about facing five years in prison. But I have trusted God through this journey, knowing that the truth will finally come out and I would be acquitted and have been. So, I’m just standing on that and trusting that the higher court would affirm that," she said.
Wilson believes Mason’s 8-year-long case will be over if the high court sides with her. But if Tarrant County prevails, she could face another long legal battle.
"If they somehow say the 2nd court was absolutely incorrect, the worst-case scenario for Ms. Mason is they could try to reinstate the conviction, or they could remand the matter back to the trial court for a new trial," he said.
The attorney believes the likely next step in the case is oral arguments sometime in early 2025.