Tarrant County DA defends continued pursuit of Crystal Mason's illegal voting conviction
TARRANT COUNTY, Texas - The Tarrant County District Attorney was questioned about a decision to continue pursuing the illegal voting case of Crystal Mason that was overturned by an appeals court.
More than 120 people signed up to speak on various high profile topics, including Mason's case.
"I want would-be illegal voters to know that we are watching, and that we‘ll follow the law and prosecute illegal voting," said Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells.
Sorrells is answering the question of why his office is continuing to pursue Crystal Mason's illegal voting case after an appeals court ordered her acquittal.
The ruling came down after Mason served part of her 5-year prison sentence.
Crystal Mason
"How much in taxpayer dollars will be expended on appealing this case? The Second Court of Appeals has already acquitted her," asked Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons.
"They didn’t acquit her, they ordered an acquittal. She was judged guilty at trial court," replied Sorrells. "The case, how many hours have been spent? A lot, we’ve been defending this verdict for years."
In 2016, Mason cast a provisional ballot in the presidential election while on supervised release for a separate felony conviction. She has maintained she did not know she was ineligible to vote.
The ballot was rejected and never counted.
In March, the Second Court of Appeals ruled that Mason's conviction and 5-year sentence should be overturned because the state failed to prove Mason was aware she was ineligible to vote.
Texas appeals court overturns North Texas woman's voter fraud conviction
A North Texas woman who was prosecuted for illegal voting had her conviction and five-year prison sentence overturned.
"Is there not anything else, do you not have more pressing cases to deal with to get people out of this overcrowded jail?"
"I have a lot of cases that I deal with," Sorrells responded.
According to DA Sorrells, fighting to uphold the conviction before he took office, should still be a priority.
Commissioner Alisa Simmons and a host of public speakers disagree.
"I still contend this Mason appeal is a waste of taxpayer dollars, a waste of time. We’ve got other cases that we could be moving through the system," she said.
"It is just shameful for the district attorney to keep this case alive. It has already been to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, who ruled thatat the original court appellate decision affirming her conviction "erred." That meant she made an error," said Julie Griffin.
"I’m here trying to understand why DA Sorrells is trying to prosecute Crystal Mason. Why is my taxpayer money being spent on this, something that happened eight years ago with a 5-year conviction? I just don’t understand it, I just can’t understand it," said Susan Alvarado.
Many speakers raised an issue with Sorrells decided to pursue Mason, noting a Mansfield case that involved a fraudulent provisional ballot cast by a former candidate for the school board there. The point was raised multiple times that the District Attorney has done nothing to pursue prosecuting the man in that case.