Prosecutor to appeal against Texas woman's acquittal over voting error
Source: The Guardian
Thu 25 Apr 2024 15.37 EDT
A Texas prosecutor will appeal against a court ruling tossing out a five-year prison sentence for a woman who unintentionally tried to vote while ineligible in the 2016 election, an unexpected move that continues one of the most closely watched voting prosecutions in the US.
Last month, the second court of appeals, which is based in Fort Worth, threw out the 2018 conviction of Crystal Mason, a Black woman who submitted a provisional ballot in 2016 that ultimately went uncounted. Mason was on supervised release for a federal felony at the time she voted and has said she had no idea she was ineligible. The panel said prosecutors had failed to prove Mason actually knew she was ineligible.
But the Tarrant county district attorney, Phil Sorrells, a Republican, announced on Thursday he was appealing to the Texas court of criminal appeals, the highest criminal court in Texas. The trial courts guilty verdict should be affirmed. Voting is a cornerstone of our democracy. This office will protect the ballot box from fraudsters who think our laws dont apply to them, Sorrells said in a statement. The second court of appeals publication of its opinion creates the very real risk that future sufficiency cases will likewise be wrongly analyzed and decided.
When election workers were unable to find Masons name on the voter rolls on election day in 2016, they offered her the chance to cast a provisional ballot. The key piece of evidence used to convict her was testimony from election workers saying they believed she had read an affidavit warning that someone cannot vote until they complete any term of incarceration, parole, supervision, parole or probation.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/25/crystal-mason-black-woman-voting-error-acquittal
c-rational
(2,595 posts)Karadeniz
(22,574 posts)2naSalit
(86,798 posts)The_Zephyr
(13 posts)... to the depth of MAGA-TRASH vindictiveness and cruelty.
forgotmylogin
(7,532 posts)"You can't appeal an acquittal."
It's basically double jeopardy, innit?
melm00se
(4,996 posts)ruling of an appellate court.
While an appellate court may render an acquittal ruling, it is rare as it requires that after examining the evidence, whether or not any rational factfinder could have found the crimes essential elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
I would think that his appeal will be along the lines of:
(and a new trial would be at the discretion of the district attorney).
As no appeal has been filed this is purely speculation on my part.
Comfortably_Numb
(3,827 posts)and I fucking live here Im so sick of our shit.
Mz Pip
(27,453 posts)the citizens of Texas? Dont they have better things to spend their taxes on?
Picaro
(1,526 posts)Would this prosecutor refile against a white Republican?
This is prosecutorial viciousness. This is racist misogyny.
I live here. Texas has reverted to what it had always beena police state.
None of usnot even an old white man like meare safe.
summer_in_TX
(2,754 posts)I've been googling and it seems to be very clearly prohibited under double-jeopardy. Especially since government power could wear down a person if it were permitted so that even an innocent person would give up. No matter how egregiously in error an acquittal might be, it is still not allowed.
I pray that is true in Texas and I hope the court of public opinion visits karma upon the judge who is persecuting Crystal Mason.