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.
For nearly the entire time, she remained out of prison pending the outcome of her appeal.
So what? That’s six years of a major life problem she did not deserve. 40k is horseshit (if she’s even successful in getting it awarded), no matter how it may compare to options in other states.
And I’ll say it - I don’t believe for one second she’d have had this over her head all this time had she been a white registered Republican.
You are correct. There are multiple cases of white Repubs committing voting fraud with full mens rea and they get a slap on the wrist if anything.
I replied to the suggestion that overturning a five year sentence would be meaningless after six years. In this case it’s not meaningless at all.
Ah sorry, misdirected hostility over this effed up system.
So she only needs to sue for a farly partial time of duress and psychological trauma and loss of income from being imprisoned for a crime she didn’t commit.
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.
That is simply false.
https://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/2024/01/michigan-man-awarded-17m-from-state-after-spending-36-years-in-prison-for-crime-he-didnt-commit.html
The law is described incorrectly. They wrote (my emphasis):
But when you click on the link you find:
So by Michigan law he was entitled to $50K/yr, which is less than provided by Texas law ($80K/yr + other benefits).
And of course $50K/yr over 36 years is roughly the $1.75 million he received. If it were actually per day, he would have gotten over $600 million.