Fort Worth Appeals Court re-evaluating illegal voting case that received national attention
FORT WORTH (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Dozens of family members and friends surrounded Crystal Mason after a court hearing involving her illegal voting case that's made national headlines.
"I'm just so grateful, grateful that everyone came and thankful. Trusting in God."
Cameras weren't allowed inside at the 2nd District Court of Appeals in Fort Worth.
The case returned here after the Criminal Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, ruled last year that the original judge who convicted Mason and sentenced her to five years in prison and this appellate court which upheld her conviction, made a mistake.
That's because 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.
At the time, Mason was on supervised release after serving a sentence in federal prison for tax fraud.
Her provisional ballot didn't count because she was ineligible to vote.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office told the three-judge panel that Mason understood the consequences because she testified in 2018 that had she known it was illegal to vote, she wouldn't have done so.
But Mason's attorney, Sophia Lakin of the ACLU Texas, said Mason didn't know this when she voted two years earlier.
Lakin spoke with reporters after the hearing. "She testified that yes, in 2018, of course she knew at that point in time that the state considered her ineligible to vote and that is what she testified to in 2018. This says nothing about what she knew when she submitted her provisional ballot in 2016."
Reverend Frederick Haynes is Mason's Pastor. He said, "We stand with her; we believe in her. Crystal has said to me, pastor, why would I jeopardize time away from my family? Crystal has said that to me repeatedly."
The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office declined comment on the case.
No word when the 2nd District Court of Appeals will rule.
Mason and her supporters hope the court will overturn her conviction.
Barbara Arnwine, President of the Transformative Justice Coalition told reporters, "Yes, I think that would be the most meaningful decision this court could make for the people of Texas."
As for Mason, she said she remains committed to clearing her name. "Been a very long battle, six years. Six years of not knowing whether I'm going back to prison."
In a news release later in the day, Mason announced she has established a non-profit organization to help educate people about their rights called Crystal Mason - The Fight Against Voter Suppression.
As previously reported, Mason's case has been mentioned at the Texas Capitol as the House and Senate debate whether to increase the penalty for illegal voting back to a felony after lawmakers reduced it in 2021 to a Class A misdemeanor.
The Senate's version of the bill, which passed last month, would also eliminate a provision, also approved by the legislature in 2021, that a person who is ineligible to vote has to have actual knowledge that casting a ballot would be illegal.
The House version keeps intent as part of the law.
If the House passes the legislation, both chambers would have to hash out a compromise.