We’ve kept an eye on Pamela Moses’ plight in Tennessee, and it’s good to know that the charges against her have been dropped. The New York Times reported:
A Tennessee prosecutor dropped all criminal charges on Friday against Pamela Moses, a Memphis woman with a previous felony conviction who was sentenced to six years and one day in prison in January after she tried to restore her right to vote in 2019.
In case anyone needs a refresher, let’s circle back to our earlier coverage.
It was last fall when Moses was convicted of illegally registering to vote in 2019, and it was in February when she was sentenced to six years and one day in prison.
And why was it that Moses was prosecuted for trying to register to vote? As Rachel explained on the show, the Tennessean had a felony conviction that legally resulted in her not being allowed to vote again in the Volunteer State.
But as is always the case, the details matter: Moses said that nobody ever told her that the conviction meant that she could no longer vote. In fact, as The Guardian reported, her county elections board admitted in writing that despite her conviction, local officials never actually took her off the voting rolls.
Most importantly, a probation officer with the Tennessee Department of Corrections even filled out and signed a certificate confirming her probation had ended.
But when Moses tried to register to vote — not cast a ballot, just register — she was nevertheless criminally charged. Among the indefensible circumstances is the fact that several white guys were caught deliberately casting illegal ballots in the 2020 elections, and they received slaps on the wrist. But when a Black Lives Matter activist improperly tried to register, she was sentenced to six years behind bars. In February, however, a judge threw out the conviction, concluding that the Tennessee Department of Correction had improperly withheld evidence. This week, as the Times’ report added, Moses was back in court to find out whether she’d be retried. The local district attorney said that “in the interest of judicial economy,” there would be no second trial. Moses won’t ever be allowed to register or vote in Tennessee, but she also won’t be incarcerated.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
Latest Post
Recommended
