AUSTIN, TX – The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the national ACLU and the Texas Civil Rights Project, with criminal defense attorney Alison Grinter and civil rights attorney Kim T. Cole, filed a brief this week, arguing the state’s highest Court of Criminal Appeals “should affirm the court of appeals’ decision to acquit Crystal Mason.”
The ACLU wrote, “Mason…was convicted of illegal voting for submitting a provisional ballot in 2016 that was never counted,” with Mason jailed for “simply trying to do her civic duty.”
According to the ACLU, “The Texas Second Court of Appeals reversed Crystal Mason’s conviction,” finding there “was insufficient evidence to show that Mason knew she was ineligible to vote.”
The brief filed by the ACLU described the insufficiency in evidence, noting how “as a legal matter, the State cannot rely on a theory that Ms. Mason ‘should have realized’ she was ineligible to vote, with nothing “demonstrating an ‘actual realization’” that Mason knew that “she was ineligible to vote.”
The ACLU said the Second Court of Appeals decision “will be reviewed” by “The Court of Criminal Appeals,” with Tommy Buser-Clancy, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Texas, having “confidence that the lower court’s acquittal of her will be upheld.”
Mason’s case involving election rights coincides with the 2024 presidential election, with Mason hoping. “On the eve of another major election, I hope people will think of my story and how precious our rights are.”
Despite her conviction, Mason noted, said the ACLU, “This experience has made me even more passionate about voting rights, and I continue to have faith that this court will uphold the lower court’s acquittal and grant me the freedom I have been praying for.”
