A Texas appeals court has thrown out a five-year prison sentence for Crystal Mason, a Texas woman who was sentenced for trying to cast a provisional ballot in the 2016 presidential election that was rejected.
Mason, now 49, attempted to vote in Fort Worth in the 2016 even though she was ineligible because she was still on supervised release – which is like probation – for a tax felony. She has always maintained she had no idea she was ineligible and only tried to cast a ballot because her mother urged her to.
A judge convicted her in a 2018 trial that lasted just a few hours.
Glad they threw out her 5 year prison sentence from 2018 in 2024.
For nearly the entire time, she remained out of prison pending the outcome of her appeal.
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Yes, she can sue. By law the most she can recover is slightly under $40,000, minus legal fees.
And here I thought everything was bigger in Texas.
It is!
AFAICT, Texas has relatively generous laws for recovery of damages after wrongful imprisonment. In addition to the payout ($80K/yr, prorated), you get an annuity. In some cases you can even get free tuition at a state university. Whereas in most states, you can’t sue at all.
$40,000 is not generous.
Hence my emphasis on “relatively”. That would be $25K in Michigan, and $0 in most states.
So technically, it is bigger in Texas.
Iirc, she cast a provisional ballot, she wasn’t certain and asked whoever, in full openness.
If her vote was even counted, then it wasn’t her mistake.
Never mind that the whole point of a provisional ballot is “I don’t know if this vote is valid, but here it is just in case it is valid”
I feel like casting a provisional ballot should protect you in cases like hers, not condemn you!
She asked and was told she was allowed to do so by an election official. I don’t know what else she was supposed to do.
SILLY Woman! She should have just tried to Overthrow the United States Government! She would have gotten LESS time!
The best part is that an employee of the state told her she could vote, therefore the state told her she could vote, and they imprisoned her anyway.
It’s basically entrapment.
The first vice chairman of the Georgia Republican party, Brian Pritchard, just got convicted of deliberately voting illegally nine times, and got sentenced to…
(…wait for it…)
…a $5000 fine.
And those nine votes were still counted.
Meanwhile… https://lemmy.world/post/13656660
Only $5000 fine
Thank God she didn’t try to buy the presidency.
