Texas court vacates Crystal Mason's illegal voting conviction, ending nearly 10-year legal battle

A nearly 10-year legal battle is over for Fort Worth resident Crystal Mason after Texas' highest criminal court left in place a ruling that acquitted her of illegal voting, vacating her conviction.

In 2018, Mason was found guilty of illegal voting in the 2016 election in Tarrant County.

The former tax preparer was sentenced to five years in federal prison in August 2011 and discharged in August 2016. She was then put on three years of supervised release. Mason was on supervised release for tax fraud when she cast her provisional ballot in the 2016 election. Her ballot was never counted as a vote.

In Texas, felons can't vote until they have completed their full sentence. Mason said no one ever told her she was not allowed to vote under Texas law.

In March 2024, the Second Court of Appeals found that the lower courts had failed to require proof that Mason had actual knowledge that voting in the 2016 election was a crime.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed to review the case but on Thursday dismissed the State's petition as "improvidently granted." The decision was 5-4. Four judges dissented.

The Court did not decide on how the lower court evaluated the evidence.

"I am so happy my nightmare is over and I can move on," Mason said in a statement.