Crystal Mason 'hoping they get it right' after high court overturns voting conviction
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A Tarrant County woman at the center of a controversial illegal voting case spoke for the first time since the state's highest criminal court ruled this week there was no evidence to find her guilty.
At a news conference at the Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas Thursday, Crystal Mason stood by her team of attorneys and supporters and praised the Court of Criminal Appeals for ruling a lower appeals court got it wrong. "I'm emotional right now."
Her story first made national headlines in April, 2018.
A state judge in Tarrant County sentenced her to five years in state prison after finding her guilty, ruling she was ineligible to vote in 2016 because she was on supervised release after serving time in federal prison for pleading guilty to a tax preparation scheme.
When she appealed, the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth upheld her conviction.
On Wednesday, the Court of Criminal Appeals issued a 25-page ruling and sent Mason's case back to the 2nd Court of Appeals saying, "The court below erred by failing to require proof that the Appellant, Mason, had actual knowledge that it was a crime for her to vote while on supervised release."
Mason said, "I'm grateful for what the Court of Criminal Appeals did, but it's not at ease. This journey is not over for me. I'm just hoping that they get it right this time."
One of her attorneys, Kim Cole said, "Crystal is not guilty. She never was. Crystal should not be here. From the moment this entire mess started, Crystal has consistently maintained that she did not know that she was not eligible to vote."
During Mason's trial, a supervisor from the U.S. Probation Office testified that he nor anyone else from his office told her she was ineligible to vote while on supervised release.
Mason's pastor, Frederick Haynes III who leads Friendship West Baptist Church told reporters, "Crystal Mason has been criminalized even though she did nothing criminal according to the laws of the state of Texas. Crystal was victimized by injustice."
The Court of Criminal Appeals though did find Mason's vote in 2016 was illegal even though her provisional ballot was thrown out.
As CBS-11 reported in 2018, a spokeswoman with the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office said prosecutors offered Mason a plea deal in which she would not have to serve any time in state prison.
The DA's office said she declined.
Had she accepted the DA's deal and pleaded guilty, that would have violated conditions of her supervised release set by a federal judge in her tax conviction.
Because of the illegal voting case, Mason ended up serving ten months in federal prison.
But she has not had to serve any time in a state or local prison while appealing the illegal voting case.
Moore told reporters that following Wednesday's ruling, the District Attorney's Office has 15 days to file a motion for a hearing and ask the 2nd Court of Appeals to hear the arguments.
If the DA's office doesn't file a motion, Moore said the case will go back to the 2nd Court of Appeals.
A spokeswoman with the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office said they're not commenting on this case because it's still pending in the courts.
At the news conference, Moore had a message for the District Attorney's Office. "They can step in right now. They can stop wasting tax dollars on this prosecution and they can also free this woman from the bondages of this malicious prosecution. Allow her to move on with her life. Do the right thing and stop running this woman through the ringer for something she did not do."
Since the case first went to trial, state lawmakers passed a provision in last year's controversial election law, SB 1,that emphasizes people can't be charged with a crime if they don't know they're not allowed to vote.
During their debate, legislators discussed Mason's illegal voting case.
The Criminal Court of Appeals mentioned the new provision of the state law in their ruling.
