The Court of Appeals of the Second Appellate District of Texas threw out a voter fraud conviction Thursday that would have put a Texas woman accused of voting while on supervised release after being convicted of a felony behind bars for five years. Texas does not allow those convicted of a felony to vote in the state until their sentence has been “fully completed.”

In his opinion, Judge Wade Birdwell said that the state did not meet its burden of proof to convict Crystal Mason, a Fort Worth resident, of the crime. A Texas criminal court sentenced her to five years for voter fraud, leading to an outcry from rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Texas Election Code Section 64.012(a)(1) makes it a criminal offense for a person to “knowingly or intentionally vote or attempt to vote in an election in which the person knows the person is not eligible to vote.” A conviction for 64.012(a)(1) requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt of all elements of the offense.

In 2021, a group of prosecutors and other officials from across the political spectrum filed an amicus brief in support of Mason. The brief, which became the foundation for the appeal’s argument, laid out how “the prosecution of Ms. Mason (was) inconsistent with Texas’s illegal voting statute and with the fundamental principles of prosecutorial discretion.”

In the appeal, Justice Wade Birdwell said the state did not meet its burden of proving that Mason both knew she was on supervised release and that she “actually realized” that this circumstance made her ineligible to vote. The ballot contained language putting former felons on notice of possible legal ramifications. However, the court found the language to be too vague to prove Mason “actually realized” the danger of submitting a ballot even if she read the notice.

The court determined that the evidence was insufficient to support the voter fraud conviction and reversed the trial court’s decision. Thursday’s acquittal was the culmination of a six-year legal fight by Mason.