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Appeals court overturns voter fraud conviction
A North Texas woman who was prosecuted for illegal voting had her conviction and five-year prison sentence overturned.
FORT WORTH, Texas - A North Texas woman who was prosecuted for illegal voting had her conviction and five-year prison sentence overturned.
An appeals court ruled there was not enough evidence to prove that Crystal Mason knew she was ineligible to vote when she cast a provisional ballot in 2016.
"Everybody who supported me on this journey. It’s been a long time coming. I’m so grateful, so humbly grateful," Mason said.
Crystal Mason, middle, convicted for illegal voting and sentenced to five years in prison, sitting at the defense table in Ruben Gonzalezs court at Tim Curry Justice Center in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 25, 2018. (Max Faulkner/Fort Worth Star-Telegram …
A day after her acquittal by the Texas 2nd District Court of Appeals, 49-year-old Mason is surrounded by her attorneys and supporters.
"We are here today to celebrate the fact that she is free now, but we are also here to put Tarrant county on notice," attorney Justin Moore said.
Insisting that Mason was the target of a Republican Party agenda pushing a narrative that voter fraud was rampant, her attorneys said they will now file a civil rights violations complaint on her behalf.
"We can’t celebrate just yet. There’s still a lot of work to be done. As attorney Moore stated, Tarrant County needs to be held accountable," attorney Kim Cole said.
Mason’s legal battle has spanned seven years.
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RAW: Crystal Mason acquittal news conference
Crystal Mason received a 5-year sentence for using a provisional ballot while she was on supervised release from a federal tax conviction.
She voted in Tarrant County in the 2016 general election as a convicted felon on supervised release from an unrelated matter.
She was required to file a provisional ballot when the election judge could not find her name on the registered voter list.
That ballot was ultimately rejected.
READ MORE: North Texas woman convicted of voter fraud: ‘I had no idea I couldn't vote'
But in 2018, under then Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson, Mason was convicted for illegal voting.
She was handed a five-year prison sentence, of which she actually served 10 months.
In 2020, the appeals court upheld the lower court conviction, but it decided in 2022 that the case deserved reconsideration.
On Thursday, here was the court’s decision: "We conclude that the quantum of the evidence presented in this case is insufficient to support the conclusion that Mason actually realized that she voted knowing that she was ineligible to do so and therefore insufficient to support her conviction for illegal voting."
"This woman of faith refused to give up and give in, and with faith, she has fought for justice," Pastor McGruder said.
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PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Crystal Mason’s contentious illegal voting conviction must be reconsidered, criminal appeals court says
Crystal Mason was given a five-year prison sentence for casting a provisional ballot in Tarrant County in the 2016 while on probation for a federal conviction. On Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in her favor based on the argument that she did not know she was ineligible to vote.
County Commissioner Alisa Simmons, at the time of Mason’s conviction, was head of the Arlington NAACP, which firmly supported Mason.
"This case, epitomizes the relentless campaign that Republican elected leaders, and Republican grassroot leaders employed here in Tarrant County," Simmons said.
At trial, the election judge testified he showed Mason the ballot instructions – that spelled out eligibility – but the appeals court decided it was never conclusive that Mason actually read or understood those instructions.
She now said she hopes her case will serve to prevent others from what she endured.
"I’m just so thankful the judges did the right thing," Mason said.