Texas Appeals Court reverses conviction in voting case that received national attention
TARRANT COUNTY — The Fort Worth grandmother who received a five-year prison sentence for voter fraud has been formally acquitted. A Texas appeals court overturned Crystal Mason's conviction on Thursday.
"It's been overwhelming. I cried and hollered when I got the news," Mason said.
She was facing five years in prison after attempting to vote in Fort Worth during the 2016 presidential election.
Mason cast a provisional ballot in the 2016 presidential election while on supervised release for a federal tax fraud conviction. She has always said she didn't know she wasn't legally able to vote at that time. She testified in 2018 that had she known she was not allowed to vote, she wouldn't have tried.
Her seven-year fight against the felony voting charge garnered international attention.
"Ms. Mason's case is sadly just the latest example of the lengths to which the state is willing to go to try to discourage people from voting," said Christina Beeler, a senior staff attorney of the Texas Civil Rights Project.
"The State of Texas spent years wasting tax dollars and resources trying to ruin the life of an innocent grandmother who did nothing but attempt to cast a provisional ballot that wasn't even counted," said Beeler.
The case returned to the Appeal Court after the Criminal Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, ruled in 2022 that the original judge who convicted and sentenced Mason and the appellate court which upheld her conviction, made a mistake; finding the Criminal Court of Appeals found the lower courts failed to require proof that Mason had actual knowledge it was a crime for her to vote during the 2016 election.
In a virtual news conference Friday morning, Mason said this ongoing legal battle has impacted every aspect of her life with the uncertainty of whether she would go back to prison hanging over her. She says this caused her to lose time with her kids, along with her job and insurance. Mason already served 10 months in prison before her release pending appeal.
"Just every night, crying, praying, asking God when will this end?" Mason said.
"You know, I knew victory would be the outcome. I can tell you that because I trusted God this whole journey. So I do know that it was only one set of footsteps because He was carrying me all the way through. It's been a really rough. When I got the news yesterday, I was just overwhelmed with joy."
Alison Grinter Allen, one of Mason's defense attorneys, said that the decision to prosecute Mason was never about her, but an effort to intimidate people not to vote out of fear that an honest mistake could land them in prison.
"The damage that has been done with this prosecution is almost irreversible," Grinter Allen said.
Now Mason wants to turn her efforts towards educating people on the importance of voting.
"Since I've been off of supervised release, I have voted," she said.
"What I want people to take away from this is never get discouraged. Know your rights. If you're eligible to vote, please vote."
The state could seek a review from the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals.
CBS News Texas reached out to the offices of the Tarrant County District Attorney and Texas Attorney General for comment. The Tarrant County DA sent an automated reply that the office was closed for Good Friday.