Texas court ends case against woman sentenced to five years over voting error

Crystal Mason has spent nearly a decade fighting conviction for casting provisional ballot that ultimately wasn’t counted

Arrest and charges

The woman, Crystal Mason, has been appealing against the case ever since her 2018 conviction for casting a provisional ballot that ultimately wasn’t counted.

It did not offer any explanation for why. “After 10 long years of fighting, I am overwhelmed with joy and gratitude.

It’s hard to put into words how excited I am right now.

Charges and court proceedings

The nearly decade-long case of a Black Texas woman who was sentenced to five years in prison in a controversial illegal voting case will end with an acquittal, the state’s highest criminal court said in a 5-4 decision on Thursday.

In 2024, the Texas court of criminal appeals acquitted her in the case.

The local prosecutor handling the case appealed that ruling to Texas’s highest criminal court, which initially agreed to hear it.

But on Thursday, the court reversed itself, and said it would not hear an appeal, letting the acquittal stand.