this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2024
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392
Crystal Mason: Texas woman sentenced to five years over voting error acquitted (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Yes, she can sue. By law the most she can recover is slightly under $40,000, minus legal fees.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago (1 children)

And here I thought everything was bigger in Texas.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

$40,000 is not generous.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Hence my emphasis on "relatively". That would be $25K in Michigan, and $0 in most states.

So technically, it is bigger in Texas.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

The law is described incorrectly. They wrote (my emphasis):

The money was granted through the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act, a state law passed in 2016 that grants a wrongfully convicted person $50,000 for each day that person was incarcerated.

But when you click on the link you find:

the court shall award compensation as follows: (a) Fifty thousand dollars for each year from the date the plaintiff was imprisoned until the date the plaintiff was released from prison, regardless of whether the plaintiff was released from imprisonment on parole or because the maximum sentence was served. For incarceration of less than a year in prison, this amount is prorated to 1/365 of $50,000.00 for every day the plaintiff

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.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

($80K/yr + other benefits).

Originally you said:

By law the most she can recover is slightly under $40,000, minus legal fees.

So which is it?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

She was incarcerated for a few months, not an entire year. The $80K/yr is prorated, so most likely she can get something under $40K.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

You certainly didn't make that clear. And even for a few months of wrongful incarceration (along with the years of having to spend time in court), $40,000 is pitiful. Absolutely pitiful.

"They don't pay as much in other states" doesn't make it any less pitiful.

Would you find that to be adequate compensation for destroying five years of your life for doing something that wasn't illegal?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

I never said it was adequate.

I replied to the suggestions that it doesn't matter because she already served her time (it actually does matter), that she should sue (she can but recovery is limited), and that everything is bigger in Texas (yes it is, relatively speaking).

Note that courts never compensate innocent people who are tied up in court, even for years. Compensation is only for people who are wrongfully incarcerated. Even in Texas.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Man, you just want to argue with anyone you can about anything you can, huh?

You're being unreasonable, replying to their observing that despite this being awful, they're somehow better than a bunch of other states.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm agreeing with them?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

You certainly didn't make that clear.

Or true.