Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for MSNBC Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
A Texas county prosecutor is seeking to reinstate the conviction of Crystal Mason, a Black woman whose five-year sentence for voter fraud put the sweeping nature of Texas’ strict voting laws under heavy scrutiny. Phil Sorrells, Tarrant County’s criminal district attorney, said in a statement on Thursday that his office has asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reinstate Mason’s guilty verdict. “Voting is a cornerstone of our democracy,” Sorrells said.
The Second Court of Appeals initially upheld that conviction but later revisited her case on instruction from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The appeals court then overturned her conviction in March, finding no evidence that she knew she was ineligible to vote when she cast her ballot. That decision was meant to close the chapter on a case that illustrated how formerly incarcerated people have been disenfranchised at the ballot box and the inconsistency of voting laws across the country.
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