Saturday, March 31, 2018

Texas Woman Gets 5 Years in Prison for Voting

Sentenced to 5 years in the slammer for voting.


Government people are sick.

A Texas woman is learning this the hard way.

Crystal Mason was sentenced to five years behind bars this week for voting in the 2016 election while on supervised release from federal prison, reports NBC News.

Mason, 43, testified in court that she did not know that she was ineligible to vote due to her 2011 fraud conviction before casting a provisional ballot in the presidential election. In Texas, knowingly voting illegally is a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Texas' ballot asks voters to certify that they have completed their sentences — including supervision — if they have previously been convicted of a felony. Mason testified in court that she did not read the fine print because an election worker was helping her with the provisional ballot.

Her attorney  J. Warren  St. John said that Mason was never told in court, prison, or her halfway house that she couldn't vote until the entirety of her sentence was complete. Her probation officer also testified in court that he had not told her she couldn't vote.

Texas state District Judge Ruben Gonzalez handed down the verdict.

Libertarians can understand her sentiment in her original fraud case:

"I inflated [tax deductions]on returns," Mason said. "I was trying to get more money back for my clients. I admitted that. I owned up to that. I took accountability for that. I would never do that again. I was happy enough to come home and see my daughter graduate. My son is about to graduate. Why would I jeopardize that? Not to vote. ... I didn't even want to go vote."

She stated that she voted because her mother told her to go and vote.

Look the best thing to do is have as little contact as possible with government entities.

As Murray Sabrin said to me, "The government is more interested in protecting violations against it than it is in even prosecuting murderers."

Mason is out on bail pending appeal.

  -Robert Wenzel 

10 comments:

  1. Yet another reason to not vote

    ReplyDelete
  2. "She stated that she voted because her mother told her to go and vote."

    Democracy in all its glory.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Low information voter?

      Ignorance of the law is not a defense.

      Delete
  3. That's a failure of their voting system, I would say. If they had those records, why was she given a ballot and why was it counted? Put the bureaucracy in jail too then. How about we have a vote on that one?

    ReplyDelete
  4. No sense of proportionality between the alleged harm and the harsh sentence; It's like getting five years in prison for stealing a penny. I'm sure her vote, for all intents and purposes, had zero impact on whatever electoral races for which she voted.
    What a bitter pill to swallow, being sacrificed on the altar of "being made an example of" instead of for any purpose of achieving justice.

    ReplyDelete
  5. There needs to be integrity to the voting system, but throwing a non violent person into jail is not a great way to spend taxpayer dollars. Some probation or community service at best would have been more appropriate. Meanwhile, illegal aliens probably vote with impunity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "I tegrity in the voting system."


      HA! WHAT A JOKE!

      We really need to be sure our system for deciding how we distribute the stolen loot is good and integritous! Wouldn't want their to be any impropriety while we're robbing our neighbors!

      Delete
  6. Oh wait, it's April 1st... are we being punked?

    ReplyDelete