STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON REPORTER'S VOLUME 2 TRIAL COURT CAUSE COURT OF APPEALS NO. 1 2 RECORD OF 3 NO. 14857100 02-18-00138-CR 3 4 STATE OF TEXAS 5 vs. 6 CRYSTAL MASON )( )( )( )( )( IN THE 432ND JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT OF TARRANT COUNTY, TEXAS 7 8 9 10 11 *************************************** TRIAL ON MERITS *************************************** 12 13 14 15 On the 28th day of March, 2018, the 16 following proceedings came on to be heard in the 17 above-entitled and -numbered cause before the Honorable 18 Ruben Gonzalez, Jr., Judge Presiding, held in Fort 19 Worth, Tarrant County, Texas: 20 Proceedings reported by machine shorthand. 21 22 23 24 25 ANGIE TAYLOR, CSR, RPR OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER 432ND DISTRICT COURT ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 1 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 A P P E A RA NC E S 2 3 HONORABLE MATT SMID - SBOT NO. 24063541 HONORABLE JOHN NEWBERN - SBOT NO. 24079049 4 Assistant District Attorneys 401 W. Belknap Street 5 Fort Worth, Texas 76196 Phone: 817-884-1400 6 7 Attorney(s) for the State of Texas. 8 9 HONORABLE WARREN ST. JOHN - SBOT NO. 18986300 10 801 Cherry Street, Suite 2020 Fort Worth, Texas 76102 11 Phone: 817-336-1436 12 13 Attorney(s) for the Defendant. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-234-1 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 2 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 3 INDEX VOLUME 2 TRIAL ON MERITS 2 3 MARCH 28, 2018 PAGE - VOL 4 Arraignment ........................... . 7 2 5 Rule Invoked .......................... . 9 2 6 Opening Statement by Mr. Smid ......... . 10 2 7 Opening Statement by Mr. St. John ..... . 12 2 8 9 STATE'S WITNESSES DIRECT CROSS VOIR DIRE VOL 10 Kenneth Mays 14,25 21 2 11 Pamela Flow 28 34 2 12 Kenisha King 37 50 2 13 Karl Dietrich 53,88 76,93 2 96 103 2 14 Jarrod Streibich 15 16 State Rests ........................... . 106 2 17 18 DEFENSE WITNESSES 19 Crystal Mason DIRECT CROSS 107,151 126, 152 VOIR DIRE VOL 2 20 21 Both Sides Rest and Close ............. . 161 2 22 Closing Argument by Mr. St. John ...... . 161 2 23 Closing Argument by Mr. Smid .......... . 165 2 24 Court's Ruling ........................ . 169 2 25 169 2 Punishment Phase Begins ............... . ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 4 INDEX VOLUME 2 TRIAL ON MERITS 1 2 3 MARCH 28, 2018 PAGE - VOL 4 Both Sides Rest on Punishment ......... . 170 2 5 Closing Argument by Mr. St. John ...... . 170 2 6 Closing Argument by Mr. Smid .......... . 176 2 7 Sentencing ............................ . 177 2 8 Appellant's Admonishments ............. . 178 2 9 Proceedings Concluded ................. . 179 2 180 2 10 Court Reporter's Certificate .......... . 11 ALPHABETICAL WITNESS INDEX 12 13 WITNESSES DIRECT CROSS VOIR DIRE VOL 14 Dietrich, Karl 53,88 76,93 2 15 Flow, Pamela 28 34 2 16 King, Kenisha 37 50 2 17 Mason, Crystal 107,151 126,152 2 18 Mays, Kenneth 14,25 21 2 96 103 2 19 Strei bi ch, Jarrod 20 21 22 23 24 25 ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON EXHIBIT INDEX 1 2 5 STATE NO. -1- DESCRIPTION Judgment in Criminal Case 2 OFRD ADMT Federal Indictment 16 16 2 3 Summary Calendar Appeal 16 16 2 4 Summary Calendar 16 16 2 5 Provisional Affidavit 41 41 2 6 Notice Documents 31 32 2 7 Voter Record 41 41 2 8 Provisional Affidavit Blank 41 41 2 12 9 Provisional Affidavit 41 41 2 13 10 Map 70 70 2 14 12 Judgment and Sentence 169 169 2 15 13 Judgment and Sentence 169 169 2 16 14 Judgment and Sentence 169 169 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT VOL 2 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 6 P R0 C E E DI NGS 1 2 (March 28 3 (Open court, Defendant present) 4 THE COURT: 1 2018 - 9:24 a.m.) This is Cause No. 1485710D, 5 styled the State of Texas versus Crystal Mason for the 6 purposes of a bench trial. 7 State, are you ready? 8 MR. SMID: 9 THE COURT: The State's ready, Your Honor. Defense, are you ready? 10 MR. ST. JOHN: 11 THE COURT: Yes, Judge. Ms. Mason, are you an American 12 citizen? 13 THE DEFENDANT: 14 THE COURT: 15 MR. ST. JOHN: 16 THE COURT: 17 Is your client competent? need to be taken up at this time? MR. SMID: 19 THE COURT: 20 MR. SMID: 21 MR. ST. JOHN: 22 THE COURT: 23 MR. ST. JOHN: 25 Yes. Are there any pretrial matters 18 24 Yes, sir. None from the State, Your Honor. No motions? No, sir. No, Your Honor. All right. Now -- I want to invoke the Rule of exclusion, though, Judge. THE COURT: All right. Thank you very ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 much. Before I -- I'll invoke -- I'll carry out that in 2 just a moment. 3 Let me go ahead and have the State 4 approach, and we'll arraign the Defendant. 5 MR. SMID: 6 THE COURT: 7 MR. SMID: 8 Cause No. 1485710. Thank you, sir. You may proceed. Please the Court, Mr. St. John. In the name and by the 9 authority of the State of Texas, the Grand Jurors of 10 Tarrant County, Texas, duly elected, tried, empaneled, 11 sworn and charged to inquire of offenses committed in 12 Tarrant County, in the State of Texas, upon their oaths 13 do present in and to the 371st District Court of said 14 county that Crystal Mason, hereinafter called Defendant, 15 on or about the 8th day of November, 2016, in the County 16 of Tarrant, State of Texas, did then and there vote in 17 an election in which she knew she was not eligible to 18 vote in, to-wit: 19 finally convicted of the felony of conspiracy to defraud 20 the United States, in the United States District Court 21 of the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, 22 on March 16th, 2012, in Cause No. 4:11-CR-151-A(01), and 23 the Defendant had not been fully discharged from her 24 sentence for the felony, including any court-ordered 25 term of parole supervision and probation. the 2016 general election, after being ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 7 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON Against the peace and dignity of the State, 1 2 signed foreman of the Grand Jury. 3 THE COURT: Thank you. 4 All right. Now, Ms. Mason, how do you 5 plead, guilty or not guilty? 6 THE DEFENDANT: 7 THE COURT: Not guilty, sir. All right. Before we proceed 8 forward, I want to make sure this -- you're waiving your 9 10 right to a jury trial by having me decide the case on the merits. You understand that; is that correct? 11 THE DEFENDANT: 12 THE COURT: 13 Yes, sir. And this is after discussing the case with your lawyer; is that correct? 14 THE DEFENDANT: 15 THE COURT: 16 Yes, sir. And you're making a free and voluntary decision waiving that right to a jury trial? 17 THE DEFENDANT: 18 THE COURT: Yes, sir. All right. And so that in the 19 event that I determine whether you're guilty or not, 20 then we would proceed to punishment. 21 you proceeded to a jury trial, in the event that you 22 were found guilty, you could have a jury assess the 23 punishment. 24 correct? 25 8 You understand had You're waiving that right also; is that THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir, I am. ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON THE COURT: 1 Okay. Now, Ms. Mason, 2 throughout your -- you know, your lawyer's 3 representation with you, are you satisfied with his 4 representation? 5 THE DEFENDANT: 6 THE COURT: I am. All right. And, Counsel, you 7 believe your client has been competent throughout your 8 representation? MR. ST. JOHN: 9 THE COURT: 10 11 All right. MR. ST. JOHN: 13 MR. SMID: 14 THE COURT: 15 MR. ST. JOHN: 16 THE COURT: much. No, sir. No. Defense? No. All right. 19 opening statement. You may make an I'll allow -- MR. ST. JOHN: 20 Thank you very Please take your seats. State, you may proceed. 18 21 Is there anything else for the record that needs to be reviewed, State? 12 17 Absolutely. Judge, I want to invoke the Rule of exclusion. 22 THE COURT: Thank you for reminding me. 23 Are there any witnesses in this courtroom 24 to testify in the State of Texas versus Crystal Mason 25 case? If so, you must wait outside until you're called ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 9 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 10 1 as a juror - - called as a witness, excuse me. Thank you very much. 2 All right. 3 (Witnesses excused) 4 THE COURT: 5 give an opening statement to me - - 6 MR. SMID: 7 THE COURT: 8 So, Mr. Smid, do you want to Yes. or do you just want to proceed with your witness? MR. SMID: 9 I'm ready to proceed, if I can 10 give the Court a quick roadmap of what you're going to 11 hear. 12 13 THE COURT: Okay. And I'll allow the Defense as well. 14 Mr. Smid, you may proceed. 15 MR. SMID: 16 17 18 Thank you, sir. May it please the Court, Mr. St. John. STATE'S OPENING STATEMENT MR. SMID: Your Honor, you will hear today 19 that the Defendant, Ms. Mason, was registered to vote in 20 2004 by provisionally voting. 21 was registered to vote in Tarrant County. 22 That's the first time she And at that time, she would have had to 23 fill out a Provisional Affidavit, which would have laid 24 out the requirements of eligibility to vote. 25 Then in 2008, she voted again in that ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 11 1 presidential election, and she was on the poll list at 2 that time. Then in November of 2011, she pled guilty to 3 the offense of conspiracy to defraud the United States. 4 In March of 2012, she was sentenced to 60 months and 5 then three years' supervised release upon release of 6 confinement. And then, Your Honor, you will hear that 7 8 she was released in August of 2016. And at that time, supervised 9 she was placed officially on supervision 10 11 release. And you'll hear from Ken Mays, a probation 12 supervisor of the federal government. And in fairness 13 to Ms. Mason, he will say that she would have not been 14 warned about not being eligible to vote. 15 16 He will say they don't do that because they feel it's obvious. Fast forward to November of 2016. She 17 shows up at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Rendon, Texas. 18 And at that time, election judge, Karl Dietrich, who is 19 the precinct chair of 1504, and a young assistant 20 election judge named Jarrod Streibich -- he has 21 graduated since from Everman High School. 22 the Air Force 20 days from now. 23 to testify, and they'll tell you that Ms. Mason was 24 in fact, showed up at the poll at that time. 25 He's going to They're -- they're here And she was not on the poll list, and she ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-234-1 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 was informed that she's not found on the registry. 12 And 2 they said that, You can -- you don't have to vote, but 3 if you want to still, you can fill out a Provisional 4 Affidavit to vote if you feel that you have the right 5 to. And at that time she's given this 6 7 Provisional Affidavit, and within that affidavit, it 8 specifically lays out, again, the requirements of 9 eligibility, including, quote, "I am a felon; I'm not a 10 felon; If I am a felon, I've completed all of my 11 supervision, probation, term of imprisonment." 12 And even with that stop sign right in front 13 of her, she voted And in the end, we believe 14 it'll be clear, and we're going to respectfully request 15 the Court to find Ms. Mason guilty. 16 THE COURT: 17 Mr. St. John, you wish to make an opening 18 Thank you. statement? 19 DEFENDANT'S OPENING STATEMENT 20 MR. ST. JOHN: 21 22 Extremely short and to the point. There's no dispute that my client is a 23 convicted felon out of the United States District Court. 24 Matter of fact, I was her attorney in front of John 25 McBryde when that took place. ANGIE TAYLOR - (817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON Now, Mr. Smid is right. 1 13 She was sentenced 2 to 60 months in the BOP, served approximately two years, 3 was rel eased released to a halfway house where she's 4 successfully gained employment. And we'll have 5 testimony about that, so I don't need to go into that. The crux of this case boils down to the 6 7 provisional ballot that was filled out partially by an 8 employee -- I guess a volunteer of the precinct and what 9 she could see as far as the notice. Regarding any 10 notice of you're -- if you're a convicted felon, you 11 can't vote, she didn't see that, and it wasn'f open to 12 her, it wasn't plain -- it was not in plain sight. 13 I can tell this Court that the testimony 14 will be from Crystal Mason that she would have never 15 voted -- never voted illegally knowing that she could be 16 subject to the wrath of John McBryde and sentenced back 17 to federal prison. She's changed her life. 18 The evidence will 19 show that she's had a good job for many, many years and 20 she has children to support. 21 will clearly testify she has no technical violations and She has no -- Mr. Mays 22 was compliant, and also Mr. Mays will testify that John 23 McBryde has not issued a warrant for her arrest based on 24 this Indictment that was returned on February the 3rd, 25 2017. And those are all important things to go -- that ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 goes to her state of mind. 2 THE COURT: 3 State, call your first witness. 4 MR. NEWBERN: 5 Thank you. The State will call Kenneth Mays. 6 (Witness enters courtroom) 7 THE COURT: 8 THE WITNESS: 9 THE COURT: Hello, Mr. Mays. How are you? Raise your right hand. 10 (Witness sworn} 11 THE COURT: Please be seated, Mr. Mays. 12 Good to see you. 13 THE WITNESS: 14 THE COURT: Good to see you. Mr. Mays, would you please 15 print your full and complete name on the pad of paper 16 for the court reporter? 17 You may proceed. 18 MR. NEWBERN: KENNETH MAYS, 19 20 having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION 21 22 Thank you, Judge. BY MR. NEWBERN: 23 a. Mr. Mays, what -- what do you do for a living? 24 A. I am a supervisory United States probation 25 officer for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT 14 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 15 1 Division. 2 Q. How long have you been doing that? 3 A. Twenty-one years this month. 4 Q. How long have you been in a supervisory role? 5 A. Four years. 6 Q. And we're just going to kind of get right to 7 the point. Are you familiar with -- with a lady named 8 9 Crystal Mason or Crystal Mason-Hobbs? 10 A. Crystal Mason-Hobbs. 11 a. How did you get to know Ms. Mason-Hobbs? 12 A. Ms. Mason-Hobbs is supervised by one of the 13 officers that I supervise. And in the course of of 14 her being on supervised release, I've had occasions to 15 speak with Ms. Mason-Hobbs in the office and even in her 16 home. 17 a. Do you see her in court today? 18 A. I do. 19 a. Would you please identify her by an article of 20 21 22 23 clothing that she's wearing? A. She's -MR. ST. JOHN: We'll stipulate she is present in the courtroom, Judge. 24 THE COURT: So stipulated. 25 You accept it, State? ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 16 Yes, sir, I do. 1 MR. NEWBERN: 2 THE COURT: 3 MR. NEWBERN: 4 May I approach the witness? 5 THE COURT: 6 a. Okay. So stipulated. Thank you, Judge. You may. Mr. Mays, I'm going to show (BY MR. NEWBERN) 7 you four documents, certified copies, and they've been 8 marked State's Exhibits 1, 2, 3 and 4. A copy of these 9 have been provided to the defense attorney as well as 10 the Judge. MR. NEWBERN: 11 And, Judge, I'll just go 12 ahead and offer those at this time. 13 THE COURT: 14 MR. ST. JOHN: 15 Any objection? Well, I -- can I see -- can I look at them real quick, Judge? THE COURT: 16 Yes. I believe they're the 17 same documents that they've provided you. 18 MR. ST. JOHN: I understand that, but I've 19 got to be careful . 20 I have no objection, Judge. 21 THE COURT: 22 State's Exhibits 1 through 4, inclusively, are now admitted for all purposes. 23 (State's Exhibit Nos. 1-4 admitted) 24 MR. NEWBERN: 25 a. (BY MR. NEWBERN) Thank you, Judge. Mr. Mays, what is State's ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884--2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 17 1 Exhibit 1? 2 A. State's Exhibit 1 is a Judgment in a Criminal 3 Case, Case No. 4:11-CR-151-A, Defendant 1. 4 5 a. And is that document Ms. Mason-Hobbs' Judgment in that underlying federal conviction? 6 A. That is correct. 7 a. How was that case resolved? 8 A. The case was resolved by Ms. Mason-Hobbs 9 pleading guilty on November 23rd, 2011, to the one-count 10 Indictment. And then as pronounced and posed at 11 sentencing on Maren 16th, 2012, she was sentenced to 12 60 months' custody of the United States Bureau of 13 Prisons and a three-year term of supervised release 14 after completing her custody sentence. 15 16 a. Was she made aware that she would need to go on supervised release after her prison sentence was ending? 17 A. Yes. 18 a. And she was made aware of that at the time of 19 her pl ea? 20 A. At least at the time of sentencing. 21 a. Okay. 22 And was restitution ordered as part of that plea deal? 23 A. Yes, it was. 24 a. How much restitution are we talking about? 25 A. Judgment indicates the restitution amount ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 18 1 $4,206,805.49. 2 a. And so we're clear, what charge did Ms. 3 Mason-Hobbs plead guilty to? 4 5 6 7 A. Ms. Mason-Hobbs pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States. a. Certified copy, State's Exhibit 2, is that just a certified copy of the Indictment? 8 A. It is. 9 a. And then State's Exhibit 3 is that a certified 10 copy of a final Judgment? 11 A. State's Exhibit 3 appears to be an appeal 12 a. Oh, I'm sorry. 13 A. -- 14 a. You're right. document. We marked them backwards. So that means State's Exhibit 4 would be 15 16 -- that final Judgment? 17 A. It is. 18 Q. Okay. 19 A. As it rel ates to the appeal . 20 Q. So after Ms. Mason-Hobbs gets out of prison, 21 22 what's -- what's the first thing that she has to do? A. She has 72 hours to report to the probation 23 office -- the nearest probation office, which in this 24 case was our office in Fort Worth. 25 Ms. Mason-Hobbs served a reentry term at ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 19 1 the halfway house located in Fort Worth, Volunteers of 2 America. There she had contact with a probation officer 3 who more than likely set up that appointment with her to 4 come to our office. 5 And she was released on August the 5th of 2016 and reported that same day to our office and 6 met with her assigned officer. 7 a. 8 house? 9 A. And about how long did she stay at that halfway Appears she was at the halfway house -- her 10 arrival date was November the 6th, 2015, and her date of 11 release was August the 5th of 2016. 12 13 a. Does she inform you of a place of residency after the halfway home? 14 A. Yes. 15 a. Where was she 16 A. Her residence of record, 6065 Autumn Breeze where was she living? 17 Circle, Fort Worth, Texas 76140. 18 a. 19 personally? 20 A. Yes, I have. 21 a. What's your overall impression of her? 22 A. My overall impression of Ms. Hobbs is she's 23 And you said you've met Ms. Mason-Hobbs a -- she's an intelligent individual that understood 24 what was expected of her, what the expectations of 25 supervision was and complied. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 20 There were times when Ms. Mason-Hobbs and I 1 2 had conversations regarding the specifics of her 3 conditions of supervision, but it was always, in my 4 opinion, a cordial conversation, which we parted with an 5 understanding of what the expectations were. a. 6 7 You said -- well, what day did she begin her three-year probationary period? 8 A. August the 5th of 2016. 9 a. Okay. 10 And -- and did you warn her that she could not vote when she was on supervision? 11 A. No, we did not. 12 a. Why not? 13 A. That is not a standard part of the procedures 14 during an initial intake to begin supervised release. 15 That's just not something we do. 16 common knowledge, but that's -- that's not something we 17 do. 18 19 Q. her In my opinion, that's Had Ms. Mason-Hobbs been meeting with a -her probation officer? 20 A. Yes, yes. 21 Q. Is it fair to say that she knows that she's on 22 probation? 23 A. 24 25 She she understands that and knows that she's on a term of supervised release, correct. a. And had she been released from that supervision ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 21 1 on November 8th of 2016? 2 A. No, she had not. 3 a. In fact, has she been released from that 4 supervision even today? A. 5 No. She is still serving her term of 6 supervised release. 7 MR. NEWBERN: 8 THE COURT: 9 MR. ST. JOHN: 10 11 12 13 We pass this witness, Judge. Cross-examination. Thank you. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. ST. JOHN: Q. long. Mr. Mays, I'm not going to have you up there You doing okay today? 14 A. I'm fine, sir. 15 a. Well, I'm glad to confirm because I was sitting 16 Thank you. there thinking how long have I known Kenneth. You've 17 worked for the PO -- U.S. probation office for 21 years? 18 A. Yes, sir. 19 Q. That means I've known you for 21 years. 20 You've been doing okay? 21 A. I've been doing fine. 22 Q. You and I have a lot of folks in common with at 23 the U.S. courthouse, correct? 24 A. Correct. 25 Q. Matter of fact, you've supervised many clients ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 22 1 of mine in the past, including Crystal Mason-Hobbs, 2 correct? 3 4 A. I did not directly supervise Ms. Hobbs, but supervised -- as a supervisor, I supervised the person 5 that supervises her. MR. ST. JOHN: 6 I think someone is running a 7 track meet outside (indicating), Judge. 8 THE COURT: 9 (Pause in proceedings) 10 a. Can I wait? Yes, just a moment. (BY MR. ST. JOHN) Specifically, this judge 11 knows exactly how the federal system works. 12 record, just to make sure the record is clear, when 13 someone pleads guilty in federal court, the federal 14 judge has the option of taking them into custody 15 directly or letting them stay on basically a pretrial 16 supervision. 17 let her stay out pending the sentencing on the case? 18 A. 20 21 22 but I'm a. Do you know in this case if Judge McBryde I'm pretty sure that she did. 19 with that. I'm not familiar I didn't review the record that far back, I'm pretty confident that she did. And, I mean, some -- some cases federal judges by statute can't let someone stay -- 23 A. Absolutely. 24 a. Some cases they can. 25 But for the In this case, my -- based on my recollection, McBryde didn't place her into ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 23 1 custody, and -- and she was sentenced later -- at a 2 later date to 60 months in the United States Bureau of 3 Prisons. 4 5 A. Do you know what prison she was assigned to? I do not know what prison she was assigned to. I will offer, though, that she was allowed to 6 self-surrender at a later date. She was not taken into 7 custody the day of sentencing. 8 9 a. And is there a female unit on the U.S. naval base here in Fort Worth called Carswell? 10 A. There is. 11 a. Now, Carol -- I've known Carol Foreman also for 12 a long time. 13 officer on the pretrial release, or do you know? Was Carol Foreman her direct supervising 14 A. Unfortunately, I don't. 15 a. And I didn't subpoena Carol today, but she's -- 16 she's not here today, correct? 17 A. She is not. 18 a. And you're -- you're also aware that Carol She is on leave. 19 Foreman, who I've known for as long as I've known you, 20 never told my client that she could not vote, and you're 21 aware of that, correct? 22 A. Carol and I did have a conversation about that, 23 and it's -- it's my understanding that that was not a 24 direct conversation. 25 our -- of our process. Again, that's not part of our ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 Q. 4 I understand. Now, I believe -- where was my client 2 3 24 arrested on this state case; do you know? A. She was arrested at 501 West 10th Street, at 5 the federal courthouse. 6 Q. She came to the U.S. courthouse based on a 7 phone call from Ms. Foreman unbeknownst to her that a 8 warrant had been issued for this, and she was arrested 9 inside the U.S. courthouse on the fourth floor, correct? 10 A. She was arrested on the ground floor. 11 a. Now, I'm assuming Carol Foreman or whoever 12 you're the supervising officer. I'm assuming United 13 States judge, John McBryde, is aware that my client has 14 been indicted for this voting violation? 15 A. He is. 16 a. And he didn't issue a warrant for her arrest or 17 take any action on this case at least at this point, 18 correct? 19 A. Correct. In submitting the document to the -- 20 Court, we did not ask 21 point pending the outcome. 22 23 a. ask for any action at this And does she have any technical violations at all that could be reported to John McBryde? 24 A. At this point, no. 25 a. So but for this -- whatever the Court wants to ANGIE TAYLOR -- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 4-32ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 call it, I suggest it's a mistake. 25 But for this 2 mistake, is it fair to say she has been in compliance 3 with the order of John McBryde in terms of following her 4 supervised release? A. 5 6 restitution. a. 7 8 With the exception of the -- the payment of Well, I understand that, but she's -- but the record also indicates she's making payments towards -- 9 A. She is making payments -- 10 a. She 11 A. just not -- 12 THE REPORTER: 13 THE WITNESS: Excuse me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Go 14 ahead, sir. a. 15 (BY MR. ST. JOHN) 16 I've read through it 17 restitution, correct? The record indicates -- and that she is making payments on 18 A. She is. 19 a. Thank you, Mr. Mays. 20 here. MR. ST. JOHN: 21 22 No further questions, Your Honor. 23 THE COURT: 24 MR. NEWBERN: 25 I appreciate you being Redirect? Briefly, Judge. REDIRECT EXAMINATION ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 26 1 BY MR. NEWBERN: 2 Q. As to those restitution payments, you said 3 she's making payments. Is she paying what she's suppose 4 to be paying? 5 A. The order is $500 per month, and my review 6 appears to be roughly 40 to $50 per month. 7 a. Thank you. 8 MR. NEWBERN: 9 MR. ST. JOHN: 10 Pass the witness. No further questions, Your Honor. 11 THE COURT: 12 Mr. Mays, this -- the new offense that's I have a couple of questions. 13 alleged, is that considered a technical violation? 14 THE WITNESS: 15 THE COURT: No, it would not be. Now, Judge McBryde can ref er 16 that he would like to have a probation - - or I'm 17 sorry - - community supervision or 18 right term. 19 THE WITNESS: 20 THE COURT: -- I'm not using the Term of supervised release. Thank you. He can refer a 21 matter for revocation and paperwork to be filed, 22 correct? 23 THE WITNESS: 24 THE COURT: 25 Yes, Your Honor. Right. And the U.S. Attorney can also request there -- a revocation, correct? ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 THE WITNESS: 2 THE COURT: 3 as well? 27 Yes, Your Honor. But the U.S. Attorney has not Have they reviewed this case at all? 4 THE WITNESS: 5 THE COURT: Have not. Okay. So right now it's or how did Judge McBryde 6 just -- how did you find out 7 find out, if you know, about this pending case? THE WITNESS: 8 Again, Ms. Mason-Hobbs was 9 arrested in the federal courthouse after a visit with 10 Ms. Foreman. 11 THE COURT: 12 THE WITNESS: 13 Subsequent to that, we submitted notification to the Court of her arrest. THE COURT: 14 15 I see. And was that pursuant to this case? 16 THE WITNESS: 17 THE COURT: 18 Okay. 19 Any other questions, State? 20 MR. NEWBERN: 21 Yes, Your Honor. I understand now. Thank you very much, Mr. Mays. Nothing else from the State, Judge. 22 MR. ST. JOHN: 23 THE COURT: No, Judge. Mr. Mays, it's good to see you. 24 You're excused. 25 MR. ST. JOHN: And, Your Honor, we can ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT 28 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 excuse him in total. He needs to go back to supervise 2 more fol ks. 3 THE COURT: Have a good day. 4 THE WITNESS: 5 (Witness retires) 6 THE COURT: 7 MR. SMID: Thank you. Thank you. Call your next witness. Your Honor, at this time the 8 State calls Pam Flow. THE COURT: 9 Ms. Flow. 10 (Witness enters courtroom) 11 THE COURT: 12 Ms. Flow, please raise your right hand. 13 (Witness sworn) 14 THE COURT: 15 Ms. Flow, would you please print your full Please be seated. 16 and complete name for the court reporter on the pad of 17 paper? Thank you. 18 State, you may proceed. 19 MR. SMID: 20 21 PAMELA FLOW, having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 22 23 24 25 Thank you, sir. DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SMID: a. Ma'am, could you please state your name for the record? ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 29 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 A. Pamela Flow. 2 Q. Pam, how are you currently employed? 4 A. I work for Denton County Elections. 5 a. And what is your job title with Denton County? 6 A. Voter registration clerk. 7 Q. Where were you working before you came to Where do 3 you 8 Denton? 9 A. Tarrant County Elections. 10 a. And what was your last job title with Tarrant 11 County? 12 A. Voter registration clerk. 13 Q. How long were you with Tarrant County for? 14 A. Almost 21 years. 15 a. At the time you left, what were your exact 16 21 years. duties on a day-to-day basis? A. 17 One of the duties I had was to keep up with 18 voter registration as far as people who are serving 19 felony sentences, other various obstacles that would 20 keep them from being eligible to vote. 21 the voter records, basically, on the -- for the legal 22 side. MR. ST. JOHN: 23 24 25 Keeping up with Can she pull that mic down, Judge? THE COURT: Yes. Would you please pull the ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 4-32ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 microphone a little bit closer to you? 30 You can move it 2 around so that you're comfortable with it. There you 3 go. 4 a. (BY MR. SMID) So in regard - - you had 5 mentioned felon voters. 6 How would you be notified of that if someone's committed 7 a felony and you need to take action? 8 9 A. I think you brought that up. Usually the State notifies us. ways we receive our data: There's various Reports from the state, 10 reports from the courts, reports from various states if 11 it's a federal conviction from another state. 12 13 14 a. Once you receive that notice, what steps do you take? A. If they're a registered voter, we send them a 15 letter -- Notice of Examination with a response giving 16 them 30 days to respond saying we've been notified that 17 you may be serving a sentence for a felony, to complete 18 this response, and if we don't hear from you, you will 19 be cancelled within 30 days. 20 Q. All right. 21 A. They're cancelled. 22 a. If they don't respond? 23 A. Cancelled, true. 24 Q. All right. 25 And the next step after that? Now, in your time of employment with Tarrant County, did you ever come across a name of ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 31 1 a potential registrant named Crystal Mason or Crystal 2 Mason-Hobbs? 3 A. I did. That's based on you having to remind me 4 and sending me the documents to remind me what happened. 5 But otherwise, I forgot about it. 6 Yes, ma'am. Q. MR. SMID: 7 Your Honor, may I approach the 8 witness? THE COURT: 9 10 (BY MR. SMID) Q, You may. Ms. Flow, I'm showing you what's 11 marked as State's Exhibit No. 6. 12 to review what's inside State's Exhibit No. 6? 13 14 15 16 17 A. Yes. Have you had a chance This is the same documents I've already reviewed. Q. All right. Within these documents, are there notifications you would have sent to Ms. Mason? A. First you see the exam, examination notice, and 18 then the cancellation notice, and then later came the 19 challenge notice. 20 21 22 Q. Yes, ma'am. Are these exact copies of the letters you would have sent to Ms. Mason? A. Yes. MR. SMID: 23 Your Honor, at this time I'll 24 offer State's Exhibit No. 6 after tendering to Defense 25 Counsel . ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 MR. ST. JOHN: 2 THE COURT: 3 (State's Exhibit No. 6 admitted) 4 THE COURT: 5 Exhibit 5, correct? 32 No objection, Judge. State's Exhibit 6 is admitted. So we're missing State's It hasn't been offered yet? 6 MR. SMID: 7 THE COURT: 8 MR. SMID: Correct, yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. May I have permission to publish 9 portions of State's Exhibit No. 6? 10 11 THE COURT: Q. (BY MR. SMID) 12 projector screen. 13 looking at here? 14 A. You may. Ms. Flow, if you can look on the Can you tell the Court what we're That's a duplicate of the Notice of Examination 15 notice that was sent back in 2013 giving her 30 days to 16 respond to the Notice of Examination after we had 17 received a list from the Secretary of State stating what 18 her current federal charge was. 19 20 Q. I see. Her resident Ms. Mason; is that correct? 21 A. Pardon? 22 a. You said - - you said letting her know. 23 Would that be Ms. Mason, the individual listed on the letter? 24 A. Oh, yes, yes. 25 a. Okay. And for the record, can you see the ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 address that this was sent to? 2 A. Yes. 3 a. That is 6065 Autumn Breeze Circle, Fort Worth, 4 Texas; is that correct? 5 A. Yes. 6 a. All right. So this notice was sent -- and I 7 understand you don't work for Tarrant County anymore, 8 but do they -- would they have a record if this letter 9 was, in fact, returned to them? 10 A. Yes. 11 a. Now, do you recall if a response was sent from 12 13 14 this Notice of Examination? A. No. I'm -- in this case I'm pretty sure it was not returned. 15 a. All right. 16 A. This would be after the 30 days has expired, 17 18 19 33 Now, what are we looking at here? and she -- her registration was cancelled. a. All right. And again, sent to that same address, 6065 Autumn Breeze Circle; is that correct? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. And in fairness to the Defendant, it was just 22 sent to this address. 23 penitentiary, correct? 24 A. No. 25 Q. All right. It wasn't sent to the federal So once this notice was sent, voter ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 34 cancellation or cancellation of voter registration, what 2 happened next in regard to Ms. Mason and her being on 3 the registry? 4 A. She was cancelled. 5 a. All right. And then one last question: In 6 order to be cancelled, she had to originally be on the 7 registry, correct? 8 A. Yes. 9 a. So she would have had to previously register to 10 11 vote? A. True. MR. SMID: 12 13 witness. MR. ST. JOHN: 14 15 THE COURT: 20 Yes. CROSS-EXAMINATION 17 19 I have just - - can I have a second? 16 18 Your Honor, I'll pass the BY MR. ST. JOHN: a. So you left the beautiful county of Tarrant and went to Denton County? 21 A. Yes. 22 a. Better paying job up there? 23 A. Pardon? 24 a. Better paying job up there? 25 A. Not necessarily. A change. ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 35 1 Q. Are you from Denton County? 2 A. No. 3 Q. Now, regarding this letter that you represented I live in Tarrant County. 4 to the Court that the -- the Elections Administration 5 office sent out to my client, these -- was this letter 6 sent certified mail? 7 A. No. 8 Q. So who -- who placed the letter in the post -- 9 10 11 post office drop box for your office? that? A. Mass mailings? How do y'all do How does that work? It would have been sent with our -- our 12 courier -- not necessarily courier. 13 employees that's assigned to take the mail that day to 14 the post office. 15 Q. But I'm saying One of our own I know you mail out a lot of 16 different things, and this was in a slot of different 17 things that were mailed out that day to wherever they 18 went, correct? 19 A. True. 20 Q. But you didn't send it certified, and this is 21 apparently a notice from an office indicating to someone 22 that they wouldn't be eligible to vote. 23 think it would be important to send it certified to make 24 sure they send it? 25 A. Wouldn't you The Secretary of State tells us we do not have ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 2 36 to send it certified. Q. I understand that. That's not my question. I 3 said don't you think it would be important to send it 4 certified to make sure the person is notified that they 5 could not vote? 6 A. I don't have an opinion, no. 7 Q. Well, so you don't -- you can't testify to this 8 judge that this piece of mail sent by your office 9 ever -- ever went to her home, can you? 10 A. I can't prove that, no. 11 Q. Well, that's what we're here about today, 12 proving stuff. But you can't -- you can't tell this Judge 13 14 15 that this letter went to her house, can you? A. No. 16 MR. ST. JOHN: 17 THE COURT: 18 MR. SMID: 19 THE COURT: 20 No further questions. Redirect. Nothing further, Your Honor. Ms. Flow, you may step down. Thank you very much. 21 (Witness retires) 22 MR. SMID: Your Honor, at this time the 23 State calls Kenisha King of the Elections 24 Administration. 25 THE COURT: Ms. King. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 (Witness enters courtroom) 2 THE COURT: 3 Ms. King, raise your right hand. 4 (Witness sworn) 5 THE COURT: Please be seated. And, Ms. King, would you please print your ยท6 7 full and complete name on the pad of paper? 8 You may proceed. 9 MR. SMID: 10 11 14 15 Thank you. Thank you, Your Honor. KENISHA KING, having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 12 13 37 DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SMID: Q. Ma'am, can you please state your name for the record? 16 A. Kenisha King. 17 Q. Kenisha, how are you currently employed? 18 A. With Tarrant County. 19 20 21 I'm the assistant voter registration manager. Q. How long have you been employed with Tarrant County? 22 A. Almost 20 years. 23 Q. And what are your specific duties right now? 24 A. I am a supervisor of the daily operations in 25 voter registration for new applications, cancellations, ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 any correspondence that are mailed to voters. 2 a. Kenisha, in your time with the Elections 3 Administration, have you become familiar with a -- a 4 voter or a registered voter by the name of Crystal 5 Mason? 6 A. Yes. 7 a. All right. And in your time, have you been 8 able to look up or see when -- what the first record is 9 of Ms. Mason with the Elections Administration? 10 A. Yes. 11 a. Okay. 12 A. Her original registration was in November 13 14 And what record would that be? 2014 -- I'm sorry -- 2004. a. 2004. So that's the first record you have. 15 And what is the last record you have of Ms. Mason with 16 17 the Election Administration? A. The last record? Would that mean a document 18 that was completed by her or just the last -- when you 19 say last record -- 20 a. I'd say just any record whatsoever. 21 A. That would have been the letter that we mailed 22 as far as her -- letting her know that her provisional 23 ballot did not count. 24 25 a. Okay. MR. SMID: Your Honor, may I approach the ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 38 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 witness? THE COURT: 2 3 4 5 6 39 a. (BY MR. SMID) You may. Kenisha, I'm showing you what's marked as State's Exhibit No. 5. A. What is that? This is a certified copy of a Provisional Affidavit that was completed November 2nd, 2004. 7 a. Okay. 8 A. Yes, that's correct, by Crystal Mason. 9 a. And State's Exhibit No. 7, what is that? 10 A. This is a certified copy of the voter's record. And by Ms. Mason; is that correct? 11 Looks like screen shots from our voter registration 12 system. 13 Crystal Mason-Hobbs. Completed statement of residence completed by 14 MR. ST. JOHN: 15 THE COURT: 16 a. 17 Kenisha. 18 copy - - 19 A. 20 a. (BY MR. SMID) Let me -- I tell you what, Yes. of your records? Are they all pertaining to Ms. Mason? 22 A. Yes. 23 a. Okay. 25 I don't believe so. Just to fast forward, this is a certified 21 24 Judge, is 7 in evidence? We'll hold on to that for just a second. State's Exhibit No. 8, what is State's Exhibit No. 8? ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 2 3 A. 40 This is a provisional envelope that includes a Provisional Affidavit for the voter to complete. Q. State's Exhibit No. 8, is that a record of the 4 Elections Administration? 5 A. Yes, it is. 6 Q. Is that a record kept in the ordinary course of 7 business for the Elections Administration? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. If I may see that. 10 11 12 Kenisha, I'm showing you what's marked as State's Exhibit No. 9. A. What is this? This is a provisional envelope with the 13 Provisional Affidavit that was completed on 14 November 8th, 2016, by Crystal Mason-Hobbs. Now, did you bring State's Exhibit 9 with you 15 Q. 16 today? 17 A. Yes, I did. 18 Q. And where has it been since the election? 19 A. It's been kept in the election's possession 20 once it was requested for us that it could possibly 21 be -- go to trial. 22 possession. 23 a. So we it's been kept in our Is this a record ordinarily -- or kept in the 24 ordinary course of business for the Election 25 Administration? ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 41 1 A. Yes, it is. 2 a. And is this exact record kept in the ordinary 3 course of business for the Election Administration? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. And are you a custodian of records for the 6 7 Election Administration? A. Yes. MR. SMID: 8 9 10 offer State's Exhibits 5, 7, 8 and 9 after tendering to Defense Counsel. 11 12 MR. ST. JOHN: Judge, I have no objections to 5, 7, 8 and 9. 13 14 Your Honor, at this time I will THE COURT: State's Exhibits 5 through -- 5, 7, 8 and 9 are now admitted. 15 (State's Exhibit Nos. 5, 7-9 admitted) 16 MR. SMID: 17 permission to publish to the Court? THE COURT: 18 19 a. (BY MR. SMID) Your Honor, may I have Yes. Ms. King, I'm going to first 20 show you what's marked as State's Exhibit No. 5. 21 in a little bit. 22 A. Zoom What is State's Exhibit No. 5? That's a certified copy of a Provisional 23 Affidavit that was completed November 2nd, 2004, by 24 Crystal Mason. 25 a. What is a Provisional Affidavit? What does ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 that mean? 2 A. 42 Why would someone fill that out? That's an affidavit that's completed at the 3 polling location. 4 on election day. 5 if you can't find the voter on your 6 registered voters, there's several different reasons why It can happen during early voting or If there's reason to believe - - we 11 , on your list of 7 you can vote a provisional ballot. No voter is turned away for voting, so if 8 9 they don't have proper identification, if they're not on 10 the poll list, if they're not at the correct polling 11 location, they would be offered a provisional ballot and 12 then later determine if the ballot would count. 13 a. All right. And even if the vote does not end 14 up counting, what is the end effect of this affidavit of 15 provisional voter? 16 A. What does that do? That allows the election judge at the polling 17 location to issue a provisional ballot to the voter to 18 have them vote on the electronic machine. 19 20 21 a. And does it, in fact, register the voter from that point on? A. The affidavit, yes. It will register the voter 22 after -- when it's received in our office, that's 23 correct. 24 25 a. Okay. So is it safe to say that Ms. Mason was registered to vote officially in Tarrant County in 2004 ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 43 1 because of this document? 2 A. That's correct. 3 a. Now, what we see here is the actual filled-out 4 portion of the affidavit. Would this have been the only 5 documentation given to Ms. Mason in 2004? 6 A. At the polling location? 7 a. Yes, ma'am. 8 A. Well, as far as completing an affidavit, yes, 9 10 11 12 13 but then she would actually have to vote a provisional ballot at the location. a. And would there have been additional language to this affidavit that's not seen on this document? A. Yes. The entire envelope is not part of that 14 certified copy because that was not a document that we 15 16 filed under voter registration at that time. Q. Yes, ma'am. Now, showing you what's marked as State's 17 18 Exhibit No. 8, I'll zoom out here. What is State's Exhibit No. 8? 19 20 21 22 23 A. That's a -- a blank Provisional Affidavit and provisional envelope. Q. All right. And would this have been the one used in 2016? 24 A. Yes. 25 Q. And in regard to 2014, we talked about ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 additional language. Would the language in State's 2 Exhibit No. 8 -- I'll zoom in on this green portion 3 would that had been provided in 2004? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. All right. Zooming in on language starting 6 with, "I'm a registered voter," that paragraph, what is 7 the purpose of that language? 8 A. That is the qualifications you have to meet to 9 complete the affidavit, because the same qualifications 10 completed in this -- the -- the affidavit, meaning that 11 you are registering to vote or qualified to be a 12 registered voter. 13 14 a. All right. So this affidavit essentially lays out the requirements for eligibility to vote, correct? 15 A. Correct. 16 a. So it's safe to say, based on State's Exhibit 17 No. 5, Ms. Mason would have had to have seen these 18 requirements in 2004, correct? 19 A. Correct. 20 a. Now, after 2004, what's the next record you 21 22 23 24 25 have of Ms. Mason at the Election Administration? A. After 2004, a completed statement of residence form when she voted in 2008. a. All right. And are you able to tell which election she would have voted for in 2004? ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 44 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON A. 1 2 November. 45 The general election in November, 2008. a. 3 It was the general election of 2004, too, 4 correct? 5 A. Correct. 6 a. All right. Now, when she would have voted in 7 2008, would she have been on the poll list when she 8 showed up to the location, to her precinct? 9 A. Yes. 10 a. All right. 11 So after 2008, what's the next record you have for Ms. Mason? A. 12 I believe that is when we received notification 13 that she was convicted of a felony, so we would have 14 mailed a -- a Notice of Examination. 15 16 a. Yes, ma'am. that. 17 18 And I believe Ms. Flaw's been over But it would have been Pam Flow who would have taken care of this notice; is that correct? 19 A. That's correct. 20 a. All right. Now, in regard to these letters 21 being mailed, is there a record kept to indicate whether 22 or not these letters are, in fact, mailed? 23 A. Yes. Our system anytime notices are not 24 mailed, we can run reports to let us know that this 25 notice was created in our system but not mailed. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT And STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 46 there's -- we wouldn't be able to generate the letter 2 that we've actually given to you in a certified copy if 3 the letter did not actually go out in the mail. a. 4 All right. I'm showing you what's marked as 5 State's Exhibit No. 7. 6 you're talking about, the record you keep to see if the 7 mailer went out and if it was returned? A. 8 9 Is this the information screen That screen is actually the voter's. their profile. It's just It gives the address information. That 10 actually would not be the screen that lets you know -- 11 that marks -- that shows you the mark date of the mail 12 date. a. 13 14 If the letter was, in fact, returned undeliverable, would there be a record of that? 15 A. Yes, it would. 16 a. And could you tell if that notice in 2013 to 17 Ms. Hobbs taking her off the registry, could you tell if 18 it was returned or not? 19 20 21 A. It was not returned, undeliverable. Q. And specifically, there was two separate No, it was not. 22 notices. There's a Notice of Examination and Notice of 23 Cancellation. Were either of those returned? 24 A. No. 25 a. All right. So after that process, she's ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 47 1 removed from the registry, correct? 2 A. That's correct. 3 a. And what's the next record you have of Ms. 4 Mason? 5 A. The next record was the Provisional Affidavit 6 that was completed November 6th, 2016. 7 a. I 11 show you this 8 A. November 8th, I'm sorry. 9 a. And this was the general election, correct? 10 A. That's correct. 11 a. All right. I Looking at State's Exhibit No. 9, 12 what is this? 13 A. That is a completed Provisional Affidavit and 14 envelope that was completed by Crystal Mason-Hobbs. 15 a. And it's -- again, we see the address of 6065 16 Autumn Breeze, correct? 17 A. That is correct. 18 a. All right. Now, to the left under the 19 affidavit laying out the eligibility requirements, I see 20 a sticker there. 21 A. Yes. 22 a. Why is that sticker placed on this? 23 A. Well, that sticker is used for several 24 different reasons. It's placed on the provisional 25 envelope after -- the day after the election. It's ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 48 1 after we receive all of the provisionals from the 2 locations on election day. It's -- it's a way for us to track that 3 4 provisional envelope. It's also a way for us to check 5 off to make sure that the clerk that handles that 6 Provisional Affidavit checks all of our resources to 7 make sure if that person is registered, if that ballot 8 should count. So it also -- we put the initials of the 9 10 11 clerk that actually worked the Provisional Affidavit. a. All right. Now, this sticker, correct, it 12 would not be on the affidavit at the time the voter is 13 reading it, right? 14 A. No, because we generate unique numbers, and we 15 have no idea how many to generate until we get all the 16 provisionals in. 17 a. All right. I'm showing you what's marked as 18 State's Exhibit No. 8. And this is the language that 19 Ms. Mason would have seen, correct? 20 A. That's correct. 21 a. Now, at the time these affidavits are handed to 22 the voter, are they fully intact with the green portion 23 and the white portion? 24 A. Yes. 25 a. And in the green portion -- I'll tell you what. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 49 I will hand you State's Exhibit No. 8. MR. SMID: 2 May I approach the witness, Your 3 Honor? 4 THE COURT: You may. 5 MR. SMID: Thank you. 6 a. (BY MR. SMID) If you could, just for the 7 record, if you could read that paragraph. 8 A. Okay. "To be completed by voter. I am a 9 registered voter in this political subdivision and in 10 the precinct in which I'm attempting to vote and have 11 not already voted in this election either in person or 12 by mail. 13 have not been finally convicted of a felony, or if a I'm a resident of this political subdivision, 14 felon, I have completed all of my punishment including 15 any terms of incarceration, parole, supervision, a 16 period of probation or I have been pardoned. 17 "I have not been determined by a final 18 judgment of a court exercising probate jurisdiction to 19 be finally -- I'm sorry -- to be totally mentally 20 incapacitated or partially mentally incapacitated 21 without the right to vote. 22 understand that giving false information under oath is a 23 misdemeanor, and I understand that it is a felony of the 24 second degree to vote in an election in which I know I 25 am not eligible." I understand it -- I ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 Okay. Q. 50 Thank you, ma'am. Safe to say this language is fairly 2 3 straightforward? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. And finally in regard to State's Exhibit No. 9, 6 could you tell if this was, in fact, executed, the 7 affidavit? 8 A. Yes. 9 a. Did it appear to be executed by Ms. Mason? 10 A. Yes. 11 a. And there's some back information as well 12 information on the back, for that matter. And the 13 portion that we have on the screen now on the left side, 14 whose signature is this; do you know? 15 16 That would be the election judge, Karl A. Dietrich. 17 a. Okay. 18 A. That's correct. MR. SMID: 19 20 So he fills that portion out? Your Honor, I'll pass the witness. 21 THE COURT: 22 MR. ST. JOHN: 25 Yes. CROSS-EXAMINATION 23 24 Cross-examination. BY MR. ST. JOHN: a. Ms. King, you doing all right? ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 51 1 A. Yes. 2 a. How long have you worked at the elections 3 office now? 4 A. Almost 20 years. 5 a. Were you in the room when we were allowed to 6 come and look at some of your documents at the Elections 7 Administration with Mr. Smid? 8 A. Yes. 9 a. We appreciate your help that day. Now, I asked an earlier question. 10 In all 11 fairness to you, you -- regarding some mailings or 12 mailers being sent to that address, you can't tell this 13 judge that any letter your office sent was, in fact, 14 received by her, can you? 15 A. Received by the voter, no, I -- personally, no. 16 a. Well, personally or unpersonally. I mean, y'all don't use a system to verify if someone 17 you 18 receives correspondence, do you? 19 A. As far as a certified letter? 20 a. Yeah. 21 A. No, we do not mail certified letters. 22 a. Now, I'm going to ask the folks there at the 23 voter precincts some more specific questions about this 24 affidavit. 25 So let me -- let me make sure, though. ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 Have you ever worked -- I know you work in the elections 2 office administration part of it. 3 52 Have you ever worked a precinct where people come in to vote? 4 A. No. 5 Q. So you don't know actually what happens in that 6 precinct while those folks are voting, do you? 8 General information, yes, but as far as A. 7 actually working at the location, no, I did not. You can't -- you can't tell this Judge Q. 9 10 specifically if anyone helped Ms. Mason fill this out, 11 if anyone admonished her regarding anything, anything 12 like that 13 9 I'm now holding up for the record State's is that correct? 14 A. No. 15 Q. And also the back of it -- and I'm sure he's 16 here to testify today -- signature of election judge 17 11/8/16. 18 9, correct? 19 A. And that signature was on the back of State's Yes. MR. ST. JOHN: 20 21 Honor. 22 THE COURT: 23 MR. SMID: 24 THE COURT: 25 I pass the witness, Your Any further questions? No, sir. You may step down. Thank you very much. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 (Witness retires) 2 THE COURT: 3 MR. SMID: 53 State, call your next witness. Your Honor, at this time the 4 State calls Karl Dietrich. 5 (Witness enters courtroom) 6 THE COURT: 7 Mr. Dietrich, please raise your right hand. 8 (Witness sworn) 9 THE COURT: Please be seated. 10 THE WITNESS: 11 THE COURT: 12 MR. SMID: 17 18 Thank you, sir. having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION 15 16 You may proceed. KARL DIETRICH, 13 14 Thank you. BY MR. SMID: a. Mr. Dietrich, can you please state your name for the record? 19 A. Karl Dietrich. 20 a. Karl, how are you currently employed? 21 A. I'm an engineer with the Nuclear Regulatory 22 Cammi ssi on. 23 a. How long have you had that job for? 24 A. Since 2002. 25 a. Did you recently -- did you recently discharge ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 54 1 from the military branch? A. 2 Yes. I was in the Navy Reserve, and I retired 3 from the Navy Reserve approximately two years ago. 4 a. How many years were you in the Navy Reserve A. I was active duty Navy for five years and then 5 for? 6 7 in the Reserve for 25 years. 8 a. And when was your last tour of duty? 9 A. My last tour of duty was an activation when I 10 was called up to active duty to go over to Afghanistan 11 and be involved in that war. I was called up in 12 July 2013, and I came off of active duty January, 2016. 13 a. Karl, where do you currently reside? 14 A. I currently reside -- you want the address? 15 16 Is that -- a. Sure. 17 MR. ST. JOHN: 18 THE COURT: 19 THE WITNESS: We don't need that, Judge. You don't have to say -Okay. Fort Worth, Texas. 20 It's actually unincorporated Tarrant County, but it's a 21 Fort Worth address. 22 23 a. (BY MR. SMID) All right. And you actually live in the same neighborhood as the Defendant, correct? 24 A. The Defendant? 25 a. As Ms. Mason; is that correct? ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 A. I do. 2 a. Okay. 3 55 And before we get into your knowledge of her, what precinct are you in -- precinct is this? 4 A. I'm in Voting Precinct No. 1504. 5 a. All right. And do you have some sort of a 6 well, do you volunteer politically to the precinct? 7 A. I -- I do. And part of that political 8 volunteer includes volunteering to be an election judge. 9 It's paid a small amount per hour, and -- so that's 10 helping out on election day at the polling location and 11 running the polling location. 12 a. Yes, sir. And how many elections have you been an 13 14 election judge for? 15 A. I think four. 16 a. Do you receive training for that? 17 A. I do. 18 a. And how many times have you received training? 19 A. Four. 20 a. Okay. 21 22 So all four times, you've had to do the training? A. Yes. It's mandatory. Every -- every time it's 23 a couple-hour training prior to -- just immediately 24 prior to the election. 25 a. All right. And included in that training, are ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 56 you trained in how to handle what's called a provisional 2 voter? 3 A. Yes. A provisional voter is always part of 4 that training every time. 5 a. Now, do you know a woman named Crystal Mason? 6 A. Yes. 7 a. And how do you know Ms. Mason? 8 A. I know her as a neighbor. 9 She lives across the street from us. 10 a. Do you see her in the courtroom today? 11 A. I do. 12 a. And can you please identify her by picking out 13 an article of clothing she's wearing? 14 A. Yes. 15 a. And 16 17 MR. ST. JOHN: present, Judge. THE COURT: 18 19 22 23 All right. The record will so reflect. 20 21 We'll stipulate she's MR. SMID: a. (BY MR. SMID) Thank you, sir. Now, Karl, did you work the election in November of 2016 as a volunteer? A. As the presiding election judge, yes. I -- I 24 volunteered to serve; however, some people associate 25 volunteer with no pay. So let me be clear, they paid me ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 57 1 $9 an hour, something like that. 2 Q. Yes, sir. 3 A. So, yes, I volunteered. 4 a. All right. 5 A. Our polling location was at Tabernacle Baptist And where was this .location at? 6 Church next to where Tabernacle Elementary School 7 previously had been. 8 mile and a half south of where I live. a. 9 10 It's within the precinct about a And is this Tabernacle Baptist Church, is it, in fact, in Tarrant County Texas? 11 A. Yes, it is. 12 a. Now, who was with you that day, volunteer-wise? 13 Who else was helping you at the poll? A. 14 Right. So I had several poll clerks. The 15 Elections Administration people helped me identify 16 several of them, in particular the bilingual ones. 17 then I had recruited two, one of whom was Mr. Jarrod And 18 Streibich, and -- I'm trying to remember the name of the 19 lady. 20 I can look it up. Someone that my mother knew through 21 Facebook or -- and so she worked the polling location 22 that day as well. 23 Q. 24 there? 25 A. And a young man named Jarrod Streibich was Yes, he was there. ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 a. All right. 2 A. He was in high school. 3 58 How old was Jarrod at the time? the time, he may have been 17. I think he was 16. At So he was a student poll 4 worker, and he went through the extra step to be a 5 qualified poll worker as a student. 6 Karl, on that day, what are your specific Q. 7 duties? 8 9 What are you doing as voters come in through the poll? A. Since I was the presiding election judge, it 10 was my duty to run the entire polling location and make 11 sure that everything was running smoothly. 12 So my general approach to doing that was to 13 try and delegate to all the -- the poll workers who are 14 there to help and to ensure that they're doing their 15 jobs effectively, that the line is moving efficiently 16 and that the polling place is being run according to all 17 the rules. 18 And -- and so I'll step back to an 19 overview. 20 fill in for a particular position. 21 the different positions. 22 When some people would take breaks, I would I don't mind doing And if unusual things would come up or if 23 they had any questions, those questions would be 24 referred to me since I was in charge of the polling 25 1 ocati on. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON a. 1 2 59 Do you recall that day Ms. Mason, previously identified as the Defendant, coming to the poll to vote? 3 A. Yes, I do. 4 a. And what do you recall about your initial 5 She came in the midafternoon. interactions with Ms. Mason? A. 6 I recall that when she first came in, she, like 7 everyone, goes to the first table where one of the 8 clerks was working with their registrar of voters. 9 it's a list of all the registered voters in the And 10 precinct, and -- because that's where you normally go 11 and present your ID and sign in and receive a ballot. 12 13 So she went to the poll clerk but was not found in the book. 14 was called over. 15 And so my initial interaction was I That happened numerous times during the election day, and so I was asked to assist. 16 Q. Do you recall who asked for assistance? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. All right. 19 20 It was Mr. Streibich. And once you were called over to assist, did you find out what the issue was? A. Yes. He just identified that she wasn't in the 21 book. As I previously stated, there were a number of 22 cases for that. 23 had her driver's license, it was already out. 24 initial interaction with her was when she was identified 25 to me and I was asked to come over there and help. And Mr. Streibich identified that she And so my ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 a. All right. 60 And did you have a conversation 2 with Ms. Mason? 3 A. Yes. I -- I remember greeting. 4 first step, saying hi and greeting. 5 at the driver's license. That's the I remember looking And we looked in the book, and 6 I confirmed that she wasn't in there. And I 7 believe I -- that she had had a name Hobbs before, so we 8 looked under age, we looked under M for Mason. We 9 wanted to make sure that, you know, it just wasn't 10 somewhere else and -- in the book. 11 asking her if she knew -- if there was any reason that 12 she knew that she wouldn't have been in the book of 13 registered voters. 14 And I remember She stated that she didn't and that someone 15 else from her household and address had voted earlier in 16 the day and something to the effect of, you know, 17 obviously she should get to vote, too. 18 After that, I tried to look her up in the 19 online voter database, which is an electronic database, 20 and it's potentially more up to date, and again, looked 21 under several different names and weren't able to 22 find -- weren't able to identify her as a registered 23 voter. 24 a. 25 Okay. Before we go to the next step as to what happened, what options do you have there as an election ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 61 judge when someone is not on the poll list and you see 2 that you have no evidence of them being a registered 3 voter? 4 What can you do? A. What's the option? That question speaks directly to the training 5 that we receive as election officials. And that 6 training is very specific that we can do three things 7 with any voter who comes in to vote. 8 9 If they're there to vote, they canยท vote normally. If they're in the register of voters, then 10 you -- and they have a valid ID and they meet the other 11 qualifications to vote, you can vote them. 12 called -- you know, they're going through the normal 13 voting process. And that's 14 The next thing is if they're in the wrong 15 polling location, which was the most frequent cause of 16 them not being in that book, then you can direct them to 17 the correct polling location. 18 people and identifying what precinct they were in; or And we had a map to aid 19 with that voter lookup in particular, I -- it would 20 identify what precinct they were in if they showed up in 21 the voting lookup. 22 And the third alternative that we're told 23 that is allowable in the case of -- of the three ways 24 that we disposition people as a provisional vote and to 25 allow the person to vote provisionally. And so we're ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 62 1 told to offer that. 2 3 And in this case, because she wasn't in the registered book, I couldn't vote her normally. She 4 lived at an address as she had identified already that 5 was inside the precinct, so I knew she was in the 6 correct polling location. 7 I think I even asked her because we always ask, Hey, have you moved from this 8 address. I confirmed that that was st i 11 the correct 9 address. And so I said, Well, I can't vote you 10 normally, but would you -- do you want to vote 11 provisionally. 12 Q. All right. 13 A. Her response was in the affirmative. 14 a. Was she also 15 16 And what was her response to that? just leave and not vote? A. Yes, she did. or did she have the option to Is that an option? And some people did. For 17 instance, I had one voter come in, and -- and he had 18 registered. 19 calling and everything, and it turned out that in his 20 case, he had registered and had the right ID and 21 everything, but he had registered within a 30-day 22 window. 23 prior to the election. 24 25 I found him in the database. I wound up And you had to registered at least 30 days And when the Tarrant County elections people identified this to me and I relayed that fact to ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 63 him, he -- you know, I said, Now, that might not be 2 correct, and something might be different, and so I can 3 provisionally vote you, but the reality is is, you know, 4 you didn't register in time. 5 Q. And in that case he left. Once Ms. Mason indicated that she wanted to 6 vote provisionally, what did you do? 7 8 A. I had only a couple three provisional voters that day, and so the processing of a provisional vote 9 was something that I consistently did as an election 10 11 12 judge. As I said, it's only done twice or three times, maybe four on a particular polling day, so it 13 wasn't a frequent evolution, and my clerks didn't 14 normally -- you know, they weren't involved in it. 15 that fell on me as the election judge. 16 So So when we receive our election material, 17 it has a large number of packets in it, you know, 18 perhaps a dozen different packets, and one of them is 19 this provisional packet. 20 ballots, and then it has -- pardon me. 21 that you fill out of the provisional voters and some 22 other slips with some information on them. 23 And it has the provisional It has a list And so to -- so to answer your question, 24 what did I do, I then processed through it. 25 through the provisional voting. I walked As I said, we didn't do ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 64 1 it too often. We have an election manual. It has a 2 section on provisional voting just like it has a section 3 on setting up the machines or on other special cases and 4 like if they walked in with their mail-in ballot and 5 that sort of thing. 6 So I went to the provisional voter section, 7 and -- and I walked through it and read the instructions 8 and went through them step by step. 9 10 11 Q. All right. And as part of that process, did you hand her a form of any kind? A. Yes. A provisional ballot is -- you vote 12 provisionally on an electronic voting machine, and then 13 the electronic voting system gives you a -- a number 14 which is cross-referenced and allows them to then accept 15 that vote. 16 affidavit on the part of the person. 17 them on the list of provisional voters. 18 back and put them into that registered book of all the 19 registered voters, and you fill them in on a blank page 20 there and have them sign that as well. 21 answer to your question is yes. 22 a. And so that's put in an envelope. All right. That is a You also enter You also go So the short You had mentioned an affidavit. 23 Ms. Mason had to have filled out an affidavit that day 24 to vote provisionally? 25 A. Yes. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT So STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON MR. SMID: 1 65 Your Honor, may I approach the 2 witness? THE COURT: 3 4 a. (BY MR. SMID) You may. Karl, I'm showing you what's 5 marked as State's Exhibit No. 9. 6 Does that look familiar to you? 7 A. Yes, it does. 8 a. What is this? 9 A. This is the affidavit and envelope for a 10 provisional voter. 11 a. All right. 12 A. Oh, I'm sorry. 13 14 15 16 And specifically which voter? It's Ms. Crystal L. Mason-Hobbs, and she has filled it out here. a. Is that the affidavit you would have handed her on the day in question, November 8th, 2016? A. This is that very affidavit. 17 writing here. It has that date on it, and it has my 18 signature on the back of that date. 19 provisional ballot envelope. 20 a. It's my -- my So it is the Thank you. Now, Karl, can you take the Court through 21 22 the process of your providing that to Ms. Mason and what 23 happened in your instructions to Ms. Mason 'speci fi call y 24 in regard to this affidavit? 25 A. Yes, I can. On -- on that day -- so the -- the ANGIE TAYLOR-(817).884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 66 1 red section -- the voter fills out the white section 2 here, and the green sections are for myself as the 3 election official and then for the elections people 4 downtown. And so as I said before, Ms. Mason had her 5 6 driver's license. It was a in-date valid driver's 7 license and had the address. So I checked that, yes, 8 she had the acceptable ID. I remember going down this 9 list of the reasons for voting provisionally. 10 present an acceptable ID is the first one. 11 the case. 12 13 Failed to That's not Voter not on the list of registered voters, that -- that was the case. It wasn't that these other 14 ones not on the list but registered in another precinct. 15 We can provisionally vote them in our location if they 16 insist. 17 them to the correct location. 18 A voter's on the list instead of sending Voter on the list of people who voted early 19 by mail and the voter has not cancelled the mail-in 20 ballot application. 21 22 23 24 25 Voting after 7:00 due to a court order. If a poll opens late, they'll typically close it late. Voter on the list but registered address is outside the political subdivision. Voting in another's primary -- another ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 party's primary. 67 That didn't apply -- this wasn't -- I 2 guess I walked through those because I remember that Ms. 3 Mason and I sat down at a table, and -- and I sat down 4 and actually read through each part. 5 two or three of them. 6 right. 7 8 The -- I only do I want to make sure that they're The part to be completed by the county voter register for status, I -- I didn't complete. And 9 then on this side, the type of election I filled out 10 11 "general" and put in the date, November 8th, 2016. The authority conducting, I -- I left 12 blank, but I did fill in the precinct number. 13 precinct where registered was left blank. 14 ballot code is filled in from the JVC, the electronic 15 voting machining. 16 And then And then the Then I remember underneath this is this "to 17 be completed by the voter" section. 18 and Spanish, and so it has about ten lines here. 19 remember reading this and just looking it over and then 20 passing it to Ms. Hobbs saying, please 21 part to be completed by the voter, please read through 22 this and fill out this section. 23 And it's in English And I this is the And so I'd been sitting at the table with 24 her while I filled out this and looking over this. 25 in fact, I think I even described the reason and so on. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT And, STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON I had not yet signed it at that point, and 1 2 68 I handed it over to her, and then she filled out this 3 white section. MR. SMID: 4 5 Your Honor, may I have permission to publish State's Exhibit No. 9? 6 THE COURT: You may. 7 MR. SMID: Thank you. 8 a. (BY MR. SMID) Karl, can you see the projector 9 screen up top here? 10 A. Yes, sir. 11 a. All right. And previously mentioned State's 12 Exhibit No. 9. You had mentioned the section titled, to 13 be completed by voter. 14 A. Yes, I did. 15 a. All right. You told her to read that? Now, we see a sticker on top of the 16 admonishments or the affidavit language. Was that there 17 at the time you gave it to her? 18 A. No. I'm quite certain that was added by the 19 Tarrant elections office when they processed the 20 21 envelope. a. 22 23 MR. SMID: Permission to publish State's Exhibit No. 8, Your Honor? THE COURT: 24 25 All right. a. (BY MR. SMID) Granted. State's Exhibit No. 8 is a blank ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 copy previously admitted, Karl. 69 The language, "To be 2 completed by voter," is that the same language that was 3 on State's Exhibit No. 9, or if it is on No. 9, it's -4 A. Can I see the forms up close 5 Q. Absolutely. 6 A. - - please 7 Q. Yes, sir. 8 A. - - to accurately 9 Q. Yes, sir. 10 A. Yes, it's identified. 11 a. Okay. 12 received that day -- 13 A. 14 a. Yes. in State's Exhibit No. 8? THE COURT: 15 16 That's the language she would have All right. Gentlemen, please don't talk over each other. 17 MR. SMID: 18 THE COURT: Oh, I'm sorry. The court reporter can't take 19 it down. 20 finish speaking because it's not a normal conversation. 21 It's physically impossible for her to type when both of 22 you are speaking, so please keep that in mind. 23 you. MR. SMID: 24 25 It's not -- we have to wait for each other to a. (BY MR. SMID) Yes, sir. Thank Thank you. State's Exhibit No. 8 identical? ANGIE TAYLOR .... (817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER .... 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 70 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. These are the admonishments -- or this is the 3 affidavit language that would have been or that is in 4 State's Exhibit No. 9, correct? 5 A. Yes, underneath the sticker. 6 a. Okay. Thank you. MR. SMID: 7 May I approach the witness one 8 more time, Your Honor? THE COURT: 9 10 11 MR. SMID: a. (BY MR. SMID) You're here already. Thank you. State's Exhibit No. 10. What is 12 State's Exhibit No. 10? 13 A. This is a diagram of the polling location. 14 a. Okay. And is this a fair and accurate 15 depiction of what the location would have looked like 16 that day? 17 A. Yes, it is. 18 MR. SMID: Your Honor, at this time I will 19 offer State's Exhibit No. 10 after tendering to Defense 20 Counse 1 . 21 MR. ST. JOHN: 22 THE COURT: 23 I have no objection, Judge. State's Exhibit 10 is now admitted. 24 (State's Exhibit No. 10 admitted) 25 THE COURT: You may proceed. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 MR. SMID: 2 Permission to publish? 3 THE COURT: 4 5 a. (BY MR. SMID) 71 Thank you, sir. You may. Now, Karl, in regard to State's Exhibit No. 9, do you know if Ms. Mason read this? Did 6 she, in fact, look over this affidavit? 7 8 A. I cannot say with certainty that she read it, but she certainly paused and took some number of seconds 9 to look over what was on the left. And she certainly 10 read the right part, and she filled it out since she put 11 the right information in the boxes. 12 13 a. Now, once she fills it out and hands it back to you, what do you do with it? Is there any more 14 additional process that you take with her? 15 A. Yes. That's the point at which I -- well, the 16 first -- the first thing that I did was I looked over 17 the white section and ensured that it was filled out 18 accurately, because we don't want her to have it 19 disqualified on some technicality or something. 20 And then I flipped over to the back, and 21 there's language on the back that I affirm, or to that 22 effect, that all the information I provided is accurate. 23 And so I -- I remember holding up my right 24 hand and said, Do you affirm that all the information 25 you provided is accurate. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 72 And I received a response in the 1 2 affirmative, and I signed and dated it at that point. 3 a. Okay. 4 A. I So she swore to the affidavit? I wouldn't -- I don't think I used the 5 word swear or anything, but she certainly affirmed that 6 she had provided accurate information. a. 7 Yes, sir. Thank you. 8 In regard to State's Exhibit No. 10 -- 9 MR. SMID: 10 May I approach the witness, Your Honor? 11 THE COURT: 12 have leave of the Court You may. And by the way, you 13 MR. SMID: Oh, thank you, sir. 14 THE COURT: to approach 15 MR. SMID: 16 THE COURT: 17 MR. SMID: 18 19 a. (BY MR. SMID) -- I appreciate it. -- without further request. Thank you, sir. See there's a laser button here, Karl? 20 A. Yes. 21 a. At the time that this is all happening, 22 is it -- is it a rushed feel? Is it overwhelming? 23 What's the atmosphere like? 24 25 A. No. location. I try to keep a pretty calm polling It's not rushed at all. I mean, the poll ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 73 1 clerks are handing -- handling the people. 2 never a line. They're very efficient. There was That's -- I try 3 and get younger people. I think we had moved to this table here to 4 5 fill out the provisional ballot -- or not the 6 provisional ballot -- the envelope with the certificate 7 and sat down at that table. Here's the location of the table with the 8 9 clerk that had the list of registered voters and where 10 someone initially comes in and signs that book and the 11 book to which she would be added after we completed the 12 affidavit envelope. And then at this table, you pick up your 13 14 paper ballot or in her case, go to the electronic voting 15 machining, receive a -- a pen to then vote -- I'm sorry. 16 Here's where you receive the -- that's the ballot box, 17 the paper ballots. 18 you the code for the voter and for the provisional 19 envelope, and then the voting booth -- the electronic 20 voting booth was there. 21 a. This was a machine that would give So you are going over this process away from 22 the actual voting line away from the poll -- away from 23 the voting booths to where she can have a chance to 24 concentrate; is that correct? 25 A. Yes. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 Q. Okay. 74 Now, Karl, let me ask you, in regard to 2 State's Exhibit No. 9, in light of your training and 3 experience that you have had, if she just would have 4 filled out this affidavit and 5 and appear to not have read it, would you have let her affirm to it? 6 A. No. 7 Q. And why is that, Karl? 8 A. Well, because essentially when someone's 9 I probably would have read it aloud. provisionally voting, they're -- they're not in the book 10 of registered voters, and so they're not on -- on the 11 list of people we know can vote. 12 someone like that vote, we want to make sure that they 13 are allowed to vote. And so before we let And so they are affirming, for instance, 14 15 that -- that you're allowed to vote and you have to be a 16 U.S. citizen to vote and things like that. 17 a process by which you're -- we're going to take this 18 person's word at it, they should be allowed to vote or 19 at least they believe that they should be allowed to 20 vote, and that's why I'm going to let him vote. 21 22 Q. And so it's You want to make sure that they know they are eligible, correct? 23 A. That is correct. 24 Q. Now, after she affirmed to the language in the 25 affidavit, did she, in fact, vote? ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. All right. 75 And did she have to sign any 3 additional documentation aside from the affidavit? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. And what documentation was that? 6 A. There's a spot where she fills out her name and 7 signs on the electronic slip that gets put into the 8 provisional voter envelope. It -- the electronic voting 9 process is that the voter -- they can go to the machine 10 to request a paper tape that it puts out for whoever's 11 going to vote. 12 In the case of a provisional voter, you 13 select that option, and then it prints out a -- a longer 14 tape that has two parts. 15 four-digit PIN for going to the voting 16 voting booth, and the second part is the 17 provisional-ballot code, which I entered on the back of 18 the envelope. 19 and sign her name. 20 21 electronic And it also has a place for her to write Do you feel it's possible that she just simply Q. did not review the affidavit language? 22 A. I do not. 23 Q. Why is that? THE COURT: 24 25 One part has the standard I'm sorry. Repeat your question. ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 Q. (BY MR. SMID) Do you feel -- do you feel that 2 it's possible that she just simply didn't review the 3 affidavit language? THE COURT: 4 5 Thank you. THE WITNESS: I do not, because I -- I saw 7 her pause and look over. 8 that's the basis for that answer. 10 You may answer the question. 6 9 a. (BY MR. SMID) That's what I observed, and And that language in the green portion was, in fact, visible to her, correct, Karl? 11 A. Yes. 12 a. Thank you for your testimony. 13 MR. SMID: 14 THE COURT: I'll pass the witness. Cross-examination. CROSS-EXAMINATION 15 16 76 BY MR. ST. JOHN: 17 a. Help me pronounce your last name. 18 A. Dietrich. 19 a. Dietrich? 20 A. Dietrich. 21 a. Yes, sir. And so you've been a paid 22 volunteer -- I'm going to use that language -- for four 23 separate elections, correct? 24 A. I believe that's the number. 25 a. It doesn't really matter. I'm just curious. ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 77 So after -- when someone is doing a 2 provisional ballot, what physically happens to -- this 3 is State's 9, which is in evidence now. 4 happens to this document itself? 5 6 A. What physically Where does it go? As I said in my earlier testimony, there's a packet for provisional ballots, and it has instructions. 7 And all the provisional ballots get put in a special 8 orange -- neon-orange bag that's extremely bright. And 9 they're submitted with all the other ballots to the 10 rally station where all ballots across the county are 11 collected. 12 a. Who -- who physically places this document in 13 that orange -- I'm going to use the word bucket. Who 14 does that? 15 A. I did as the election judge. 16 a. So you -- you go through and determine who the 17 proposed voter is, it's not on the rolls and you can't 18 find any other qualification, you're permitted to do a 19 provisional ballot, which is State's 9. 20 to be they're in the wrong precinct, then it's not 21 counted and things like that, correct? 22 A. And if it shows I'm not sure the precise rules whether or not 23 they allow statewide races to still count if they're in 24 the wrong precinct or what. 25 question for the county administrators. That would be a county -- a ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 78 But I do know that I turned in the ballots 1 2 at the end of the night, the provisional ballots. 3 turned them in with all the other ballots. 4 5 6 Q. Now, that was a general election. I Was that a busy polling place that day? A. It was not exceptionally busy. The busiest 7 period was when we first opened, and we had a line of 8 perhaps 15 to 20 people waiting to vote that had shown 9 up before I'm allowed to open. I'm required to maintain 10 very strict hours on the polling location from 7:00 a.m. 11 to 7:00 p.m. And other than that one period, I was able 12 13 to keep the flow processing through the polling location 14 such that it was never hectic. 15 16 Q. Sure. Now, you just talked about the polling hours are from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., correct? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. And was it raining that day? 19 A. I don't remember it raining. 20 a. Did you have any assistants help you in 21 processing voters such as provisional or actually 22 voters? Any women working in there? 23 A. Yes. 24 a. How many women working in there? 25 A. The bilingual clerk was a woman. The one that ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 79 1 my wife had put me in touch with was a woman. And I 2 believe that a third clerk was also a woman. And then 3 there was Mr. Streibich and myself. 4 Q. So how many total volunteers and volunteering 5 employees were in the precinct? 6 A. Actually, I reviewed that. There was myself, Mr. Jarrod Streibich, 7 8 Dana Pertee (phonetic), Darlene Bowman, Stephanie 9 Thompson, Maria Dolores Chazawetza (phonetic) partial 10 day, and then Alyssa DeMarco was a partial day. 11 So there were six people in the polling 12 location except while people were taking breaks or 13 things like that. 14 Q. Do you ever 15 A. I'm sorry, five. 16 Q. Do you ever sign any of your -- I'm just going 17 to use the word helpers. 18 is fine. No, six. Whatever word you want to use Do you -- do you assign any of the 19 20 volunteers to assist when -- to complete -- to go 21 through a provisiorial ballot? 22 23 24 25 A. No. Do you do that at all? In -- in particular I didn't this day because I didn't have an alternate judge. Q. So once this once this provisional was completed, how does someone -- does someone retrieve the ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 80 little numbers to put into the voting machine so they 2 can vote at whatever precinct that is? Do you -- do you 3 give them -- once that person who's a voter completes 4 provisional 5 what do you do to allow them to physically go vote in 6 the machine? I'm going to show you now State's 9 7 A. I go to the electronic voting machine there 8 Q. Are you -- are you doing -- are you showing 9 10 something on State's 10 right now? What are you doing? Are you pointing to State's 10, sir? 11 A. I 12 Q. Okay. 13 A. am -Go ahead. on the diagram. THE COURT: 14 And let me just interject. The 15 reason why the -- the lawyer is asking those questions 16 is that he wants to reflect in the record what is being 17 discussed for the purposes of an appeal if there is one 18 that needs to be done. 19 MR. ST. JOHN: 20 THE COURT: Yes. And that's the reason why he 21 wants the record to reflect what's happening in the 22 courtroom. 23 THE WITNESS: Thank you. 24 THE COURT: 25 You may proceed. All right. Thank you. ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON Q. 1 (BY MR. ST. JOHN) 81 So you're using the laser 2 pointer to show something on State's 10? A. 3 I -- I am. I'm showing the location of the 4 electronic machine that we go to to enter a voter to 5 vote electronically. Q. 6 Okay. And I think you've already testified to 7 that directly based on the State's questioning. 8 my question is: I guess Someone has a provisional ballot, they 9 finish it and you help them -- you finish your part. 10 that time, do you physically drop this in the orange 11 secured bag, or does it sit on the table somewhere? A. 12 At At the point -- so from that machine, I get 13 that ticket tape. The 14 has the four-digit PIN to enter the voting booth -- to 15 enter the electronic voting booth, and it has the part the - - it has two parts. It 16 where they print and sign their name. 17 So after she printed and signed her name, I 18 retained that section, which goes into the ballot, and I 19 give her the four-digit PIN. That four-digit PIN is 20 what she then used to go to the -- a voting poll and 21 22 vote. What I then did was I sat down at a nearby 23 table, I wrote that ballot code on the back of the 24 provisional envelope. 25 put it in the provisional envelope. I then took that slip of paper, I then sealed the ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 82 1 provisional envelope, and then I placed the provisional 2 envelope in the orange bag that I described earlier. At this point the orange bag is sealed 3 4 sealed at the end of the night along with the other 5 voting containers. 6 MR. ST. JOHN: 7 THE COURT: a. 8 9 9. May I approach, Your Honor? You may. (BY MR. ST. JOHN) Now, I'm showing you State's And is this your handwriting -- what I call -- I 10 guess you called it the back. 11 is this the precinct I call it the front. But is that the ballot code that you 12 wrote down after she received -13 A. Yes. 14 a. -- after that number was given to -- 15 A. Yes, and that is my writing. THE COURT: 16 17 Gentlemen, don't talk over each other. THE WITNESS: 18 a. 19 20 Just a moment. (BY MR. ST. JOHN) Thank you, Your Honor. Go ahead, sir. What is your answer? 21 A. Yes, that's my writing there. 22 a. Okay. A. I don't see that the form identifies a front or 23 24 25 Is this the back of it or the front of it? a back. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 Q. Okay. Well, you said back. 83 I was just 2 curious. 3 4 And this is also your handwriting -- what I'll call the back of it -- dated November 8th, 2016, 5 signature voter registrar, and then your signature as an 6 election judge, and you wrote 11/8/16, correct? 7 A. That is -- I wrote the 11/8/16, and my 8 signature and the check above -- the two checks above 9 it, but not any of the writing on the right side or 10 along the bottom footer has a checkbox that was also not 11 my writing. 12 Q. Yes, sir. 13 And was this completed -- and I'm showing 14 you now State's 9, the back of it where your signature 15 is on the bottom. Did you check that specific area 16 voted -- voter not on list as registered voter? 17 do that before she could use the machine to vote? Did you 18 A. Yes, I did. 19 Q. And did you -- did you sit there as Ms. Mason 20 filled out this information here? 21 A. Yes, I did. 22 a. Did you is this your handwriting on the 23 front part, time of election, general, 11/8/16, Precinct 24 1504, and then the provisional number? 25 A. Yes. That's all my writing on the left side ANGIETAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 84 1 and all hers on the right side. 2 Q. And you saw her driver's license and -- and you 3 knew that the information she provided to you was true 4 and correct; is that right? 5 A. She affirmed that it was. 6 Q. Well, based on what -- a state-issued 7 8 9 1 i cense A. Oh, yes. I saw the driver's license, inspected it, and I was familiar with her as a neighbor, and so I 10 was familiar with the address and familiar that was 11 within the precinct. 12 Q. I mean, you have a benefit that a lot of people someone over the precinct is 13 don't have as a precinct 14 you knew that the person who showed you the ID was, in 15 fact, Crystal Mason-Hobbs. 16 didn't you? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. So you -- you could verify that that's who she You knew that was her, 19 was, and she didn't try to give you any false name, fake 20 name, or anything like that, correct? 21 A. Correct. 22 a. And did you go -- did you -- you said you're at 23 a little back table. 24 helping you fill this thing out with her? 25 A. Was there any woman back there I'm sorry? ANGIE TAYLOR- (817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 a. 2 client. 85 You said you went to a back table with my Was -- did you have a woman sitting there with 3 you and assisting in any manner that you can recall? 4 A. Not that I recall. 5 a. And that's fair. And your recollection -- and I know you're 6 7 busy, and I'm not trying to be kind of harsh on you. 8 You believe she got there around 2:30 in the afternoon, 9 correct? 10 A. Yes. 11 a. Are you positive about that? 12 A. Quite. 13 a. And there's no time on this provisional ballot 14 when she filled this out, is there? 15 A. Correct. 16 a. And your testimony -- and I know you can't be 17 certain of it. Your testimony is that you told her to 18 look over this, and you had -- you had a belief that she 19 read this, basically, disclaimer or notification about 20 being a convicted felon. 21 A. Yes. You believe she did, correct? I remember quite distinctly drawing my 22 finger down that text as I talked to her and saying, 23 Please read over this and then fill out this section 24 here, running my finger over then the right side. 25 distinctly have an image of that memory. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT I STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 a. And that 86 but that image doesn't reflect that 2 she read what was on the document, does it? 3 A. As I stated previously, she distinctly paused 4 while reading or appearing to read the form prior to 5 going to filling out her name and -6 a. I understand that. My question to you is: Can 7 you tell this Judge she, in fact, read the left-hand 8 side of State's 9, yes or no? 9 A. No, she did not read it out loud or anything. 10 a. I didn't say that. 11 A. Right. 12 a. I said can you tell this district judge that 13 14 she read the left-hand side of State's 9, yes or no? A. As I stated previously, sir -- 15 MR. ST. JOHN: 16 THE WITNESS: 17 18 19 Well -- (BY MR. ST. JOHN) Q. A. I want to tell the whole truth -MR. ST. JOHN: 21 THE COURT: 23 24 25 My question is to you -- my question, sir -- I'm asking the question. 20 22 That's nonresponsive. Nonresponsive, Judge. Sustained. Please answer his question. Q. (BY MR. ST. JOHN) I'm not picking on you. You cannot tell District Judge Gonzalez that she, in fact, read the left-hand side of this ANGIE TAYLOR - (817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 ballot. 87 You can't say that, can you? 2 A. No. 3 a. And I'm not being -- I'm not being mean to you. 4 You're doing a good job, but it is what it is, right? 5 A. Right. 6 a. I understand that. 7 read it at all 8 9 1 She didn't read it out loud, so -And you don't know if she and you just answered that. So once -- so then she -- like regular registered voters, we get the little number and then it 10 goes to the precinct. 11 allowed her to vote in that precinct. 12 specific JP or something else that you need for that 13 precinct, she could vote on that, correct? A. 14 15 The number she eventually had If there's some I don't understand the question. She could vote the entire ballot. a. 16 I understand that, sir. But if she lives in a 17 certain precinct and there's a JP in that precinct 18 versus another precinct, she wouldn't vote on another 19 JP. My question i s : 20 That allowed her to vote 21 in that specific precinct for those people on that 22 ballot. 23 correct? Could have been a JP or something like that, 24 A. Yes. 25 a. Or a state rep or something in that unique to ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 88 1 that district? 2 A. Yes. MR. ST. JOHN: 3 4 Each precinct has its own ballot. Judge? 5 THE COURT: 6 MR. ST. JOHN: 7 THE COURT: 9 MR. SMID: 13 I pass the witness, Your Redirect? Thank you, sir. Just a brief follow-up. REDIRECT EXAMINATION 11 12 You may. Honor? 8 10 May I have just a minute, BY MR. SMID: Q. And, Karl, again, just to be clear, you did 14 make the conscious effort to be sure that she affirmed 15 to this language in the affidavit? MR. ST. JOHN: 16 17 He's already stated four or five times he did. THE COURT: 18 19 I'll allow him to ask it. Overruled. 20 21 That's repetitious, Judge. MR. SMID: Q. (BY MR. SMID) Thank you, sir. You made the conscious effort to 22 be sure that she affirmed to this language in the 23 affidavit, correct? 24 A. Yes. 25 Q. And you were wanting to elaborate on the ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 89 1 question for Mr. St. John, which was -- to be fair, was 2 phrased as a yes-or-no question. 3 to add something. 4 5 A. But you were wanting What did you want to add? The point is is I -- his question appears to be, am I absolutely certain as she read it. And and 6 apart from her reading it aloud or me reading it to her, 7 I would say no. However, from what appeared to happen and 8 9 the fact that she -- in observing everything, it was my 10 estimation that she did, as you inquired earlier. 11 estimation had been anything other than that, I would 12 have asked her to review it particularly before asking 13 her to affirm its accuracy and truth. 14 a. Yes, sir. 15 16 If my You would have made sure she read it if just appears she signed it? 17 A. Yes. 18 a. And to be clear again, in State's 9 she signed. 19 That's her signature, correct? 20 A. Yes. 21 a. All right. Now, to your recollection, were you 22 the only person that was assisting her with the 23 affidavit in State's 9? 24 A. Yes. 25 a. And once the day was over, did you, in fact, ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 90 report information that happened that day to law 2 enforcement of any kind? 3 A. No. 4 a. All right. And how did it get reported that a 5 potential felon had voted at your polling place; do you 6 remember? 7 8 A. Yes, I do. After she had voted and departed from the polling location, at some point after that, Mr. 9 Streibich, my clerk who had processed 10 processed her, made the comment that perhaps -MR. ST. JOHN: 11 Judge, I know there's no 12 jury, but I think he's here to testify, and I object to 13 hearsay on that. 14 ha 11 way. THE COURT: 15 16 If I'm not mistaken, he's in the Well, first off is that I'm going to sustain the objection. 17 Rephrase your question. 18 MR. SMID: 19 20 a. 23 And Mr. Streibich, he will testify to what he said and what he reported. 21 22 (BY MR. SMID) Yes, sir. But did you, yourself, report this to any sort of law enforcement or anyone else? A. I eventually -- it was either the next day or a 24 couple days later -- figured out who I should report the 25 concern that was brought to my attention to, and I ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 91 1 called the county D.A. 's office. 2 3 a. Now, Karl, you knew Ms. Mason. You said you were neighbors with her, correct? 4 A. Yes. 5 a. And did you realize at the time she was voting 6 that this was an issue? 7 A. No. 8 a. And why not? 9 A. Well, there's -- I guess I'd point out two 10 things. One, I was somewhat recently back from my tour 11 of duty over in Afghanistan that lasted over two years, 12 total time. Second, I had no reason to believe that 13 14 there was an issue at that point. 15 the polling location. She was present at She wasn't in jail or something. 16 And so she seemed a legitimate voter. I knew that she 17 had had something previously, but it was a long time 18 ago, and I wasn't even sure whether there had been a 19 conviction. 20 So I was not -- it was not even in my mind 21 until it was brought to my attention that she may not 22 have been eligible to vote 23 a. Did you know 24 A. -- that 25 a. I'm sorry. Go ahead. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 92 1 A. That, you know, there was a potential issue. 2 a. Did you know she was on supervised release? 3 A. No. In fact, when I first called the D.A. 's 4 Office, I had to leave a message. I was kind of 5 surprised that I got called back. 6 And he identified that, yes, I had called 7 the right place as opposed to the Secretary of State 8 because they run the elections or calling the -- the 9 voter elections officials since they don't handle 10 crimes. I finally figured out to call the D.A. 11 So he, I guess, was able to look up online 12 some system, and he was saying, Well, actually she had 13 this conviction back in a number of years ago but the 14 maximum sentence on that is this, and -MR. ST. JOHN: 15 16 question, Judge. 17 THE WITNESS: 18 THE COURT: 19 Is that an objection? And it sounded to me Just a moment. Just a moment. If so -- MR. ST. JOHN: 20 21 This goes beyond the Yes, I made an objection, not relevant. 22 THE COURT: Not relevant? 23 MR. ST. JOHN: 24 THE COURT: 25 Rephrase your question. Yes, sir. Sustained. ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 4-32ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 2 MR. SMID: Q. (BY MR. SMID) 93 Yes, sir. And one last question, Karl. 3 Even had you known that, had you known that she was a 4 felon voter, as an election judge, are you allowed to 5 turn someone away from the polls? 6 A. I -- my understanding of the training is that 7 as an election judge, I have very broad power that I 8 hope I never have to exercise because I never want to 9 cause someone to be -- be the cause of someone not being 10 abie to vote. 11 judge so that people could vote. 12 13 I mean, that's why I became an election On the other hand, the training is quite specific that when a voter presents him or herself, that 14 we should take one of three courses, the three courses 15 of action described earlier. 16 But if I know that someone's not allowed to vote, then it's improper and 17 wrong and incorrect for me to allow them to vote. 18 Q. All right. And is it safe to say, based on the 19 affidavit, there are safeguards in place to prevent 20 illegal voters from voting, correct? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. Thank you for your testimony, Karl. 23 MR. SMID: 24 THE COURT: 25 I pass the witness. Recross. RECROSS-EXAMINATION ANGIE TAYLOR - (817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 94 1 BY MR. ST. JOHN: 2 a. Well, I would suggest I don't know you, but I My -- my 3 can tell you're a person of integrity. 4 response would be your integrity would say, Hey, 5 Crystal , I understand you had some problems before; you 6 know if you're a convicted felon, you can't vote. But 7 you didn't say that, did you? 8 A. I did not. I had no reason to suspect that she 9 was a convicted felon. 10 11 a. Well, you just said a minute ago you knew she had been in trouble? 12 A. Correct. 13 a. That's fine. MR. ST. JOHN: 14 15 Honor. 16 MR. SMID: 17 THE COURT: 18 I pass the witness, Your Nothing further. All right. May I see the lawyers briefly to the side? 19 {BENCH CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS) 20 THE COURT: All right. Before you excuse 21 Mr. Dietrich, I do want to bring to both of your 22 attention I do know Mr. Dietrich personally. 23 MR. SMID: Okay. 24 MR. ST. JOHN: 25 MR. SMID: Okay. That's fine. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON THE COURT: 1 95 And one other thing is that I 2 met -- I saw him at the Republican conviction for Senate 3 District 10 and spoke with him there. And he relayed 4 that he was -- I was going to see him, but I didn't know 5 what context MR. ST. JOHN: 6 7 THE COURT: I just wanted to make sure you're aware of that. MR. ST. JOHN: 10 11 No, that's fine, Judge. THE COURT: 13 (OPEN COURT PROCEEDINGS) 14 THE COURT: may step down. Okay. Thank you very much. All right. Mr. Dietrich, you Thank you very much, sir. 16 THE WITNESS: 17 THE COURT: 18 I do need to use the restroom. 12 15 I have no problem with that. 8 9 I understand. You're welcome. Thank you. It's good to see you. 19 (Witness retires) 20 THE COURT: All right. 21 take a restroom break right now. 22 recess. Now, we're going to We'll be in a brief Thank you. 23 (Recess from 11:11 a.m. to 11 :38 a.m.) 24 (Open court, Defendant present) 25 (Witness enters courtroom) ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 THE COURT: 2 Please take your seat, sir. 3 Call your next witness, State. 4 MR. NEWBERN: 96 We're back on the record. Thank you, Your Honor. The 5 State calls Jarrod Streibich. THE COURT: 6 Mr. Streibich, please turn and 7 raise your right hand. 8 (Witness sworn) 9 THE COURT: All right. 11 All right. Counsel, you may proceed. 12 Oh, and would you please print your full 10 13 sir. name for the court reporter on the pad of paper? 14 THE WITNESS: 15 THE COURT: 16 MR. NEWBERN: You may proceed. Thank you, Judge. having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION 19 20 Yes, sir. JARROD STREIBICH, 17 18 Put down your hand, BY MR. NEWBERN: 21 a. Jarrod, how old are you? 22 A. Seventeen, sir. 23 a. Seventeen. 24 A. Graduated two years early. 25 a. Okay. Why aren't you in school? So where did you graduate from? ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 97 ( 1 A. Everman Academy. 2 a. Everman 3 A. Everman Academy High School, just to be 4 precise. 5 a. Everman Academy High School. So what are your plans for the future, 6 7 Jarrod? 8 A. I leave in 21 days to Air Force boot camp down 9 in San Antonio. 10 a. Down in San Antonio. So are you prepared for that? 11 12 A. Yes, sir. 13 a. What do you want to do in the Air Force? 14 A. I'm going to be a firefighter for the first 15 three years, and hopefully I can cross-train into a 16 spec-ops group. 17 a. Okay. 18 A. It's just my plan to do so. 19 a. Okay. 20 Force? 21 A. 22 23 24 25 How do you know that al ready? ยท Why did you decide to join the Air It's a family tradition, and it's what I've always wanted to do in my life. a. So have you got brothers or your father that's been in the Air Force as well? A. I currently have two brothers serving right now ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 in the Air Force. 2 family tradition. 98 My dad is an Army vet, and it's a Almost every single male in my family 3 has served in the military. 4 Q, Well, I am excited for you, and I want to say 5 thank you in advance for your service. 6 A. Thank you, sir. 7 Q. On November 8th of 2016, did you work as an It's a pleasure. 8 election clerk - 9 A. Yes, sir. 10 Q. Okay. 11 A. Rendon Retta Church. 12 Q. How old were you at that time? 13 A. Sixteen. 14 Q. Why on earth would a sixteen-year-old want to 15 16 Where was that? It's a Baptist church. do that? A. I would like to get out of the -- the crappy 17 school I was in and do volunteer services with the 18 community. 19 a. 20 assist ant? 21 A. 22 23 24 25 Was that your first time to work as an election Yes, sir. It's my very first time doing something that I volunteered, so ... a. Did you have to go through some training before you were able to do so? A. Yes, sir. I had to do a night of training at ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 99 1 the election county in -- or at the Tarrant County 2 election facility. Q. 3 And when you were working those polls that day, 4 were you working with Karl Dietrich? A. 5 We were sitting right next to each other just 6 watching the slide show. 7 Q. He was your election judge, though? 8 A. Yes, sir. 9 Q. What was your role there at the polling center? 10 A. I was to write down everyone's name, check 11 their licenses, their voting registration cards and just 12 make sure their address matches their ID, and then I 13 send them off to go get a ballot and have them cast the 14 vote. 15 16 a. Do you remember if a Ms. Mason-Hobbs came into vote that day? 17 A. Yes, sir. 18 a. Did you check for her name on the registrar? 19 A. Yes, sir. 20 I checked it twice in both Mason and then even Hobbs just to make sure. 21 a. And was her name present? 22 A. No, sir. 23 a. So at that point, what do you do? 24 A. I talked to the election judge, Karl , to say 25 that she's not on here. We can't find her else -- ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 100 1 anywhere in our precinct, and she's -- she has her card. 2 So I tell them, Well, we may have to do 3 provisional voting because she's not on the registry and 4 we've already done two others, and so we should just go 5 ahead and do a provisional vote. 6 Q. At that point does Ms. Mason-Hobbs go with Karl 7 to proceed with the provisional ballot? 8 A. Yes, sir. 9 Q. And what do you do? 10 A. I am still continuing writing people's names 11 and making sure of the address. MR. NEWBERN: 12 Judge, may I approach this 13 witness? 14 THE COURT: 15 MR. ST. JOHN: 16 You may. Judge, is his microphone on? Is his microphone on? THE COURT: 17 He's just talking past it. Why 18 don't you reset the microphone so that we can all hear 19 you clearly. 20 THE WITNESS: 21 THE COURT: 22 25 Thank you, sir. I think Mr. St. John can't hear you very well. THE WITNESS: 23 24 All right. Q. (BY MR. NEWBERN) laser pointer. Oh, I'm sorry, sir. Jarrod, let me hand you this That yellow button is -- will put a ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 101 laser on that screen. 2 A. All right. 3 a. On that screen is what's been entered as 4 State's Exhibit 10. 5 A. What is that, Jarrod? That is the voting booth with four on the left 6 and the provisional voting booth on the north side of 7 the building -- or north side of the room. 8 We are in a parish hall from a church, and just -- you want me to do 9 anything else? 10 11 a. Can you use the laser pointer to show the Judge where you were sitting on -- 12 A. Yes, sir. 13 a. -- this election day? 14 A. I was sitting right there. 15 a. And so the potential voters would come in and 16 meet with you to check for their names on the registrar 17 at that table? 18 A. Yes, sir. 19 a. Now, when Ms. Mason-Hobbs went with your 20 election judge to fill out the provisional ballot, where 21 was she sitting? She was sitting directly to my right near the 22 A. 23 office door. 24 a. Was it a busy day? 25 A. We had around 400-plus people before Ms. ANGIE TAYLOR .... (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER ..... 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 102 1 Mason-Hobbs came in, and particularly busy when she came 2 in because we had all three lines filling up. a. 3 4 Okay. And how many provisional ballots had you -- did you have to do that day? A. 5 We did a total of three including her. We also 6 did two more, and that was it. a. 7 8 When Ms. Mason-Hobbs was working on that provisional ballot, about how far was she from you? A. 9 10 Okay. I'd say four to five feet. Four to five feet from the table, to be precise. 11 a. 12 doing? 13 A. Were you paying attention to what she was I was just -- I had to glance at the people 14 making sure they're doing, you know, their duty to read 15 the ballot because we all had to do that. 16 make sure we did the training correct and make sure they 17 read. 18 19 a. We all had to Did you see if Ms. Mason-Hobbs read that provisional ballot affidavit? 20 A. Yes, sir. 21 a. What did you see? 22 A. Her finger watching each line making sure she 23 24 25 read it all . a. Did she then come back to you and fill her name into the provisional registration? ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 A. Yes, sir. 2 a. Did she then cast a ballot? 3 A. Yes, sir. 4 MR. NEWBERN: 5 MR. ST. JOHN: 6 THE COURT: 9 10 Pass the witness. Very briefly. Cross-examination. CROSS-EXAMINATION 7 8 103 BY MR. ST. JOHN: a. -- What I know you were busy that day. You said it was busy when my client came in? 11 A. Just before. 12 a. Okay. You said there was three lines. What -- 13 what do you mean three lines? 14 A. 15 right here. 16 it was starting to back up into the waiting room, and 17 that was 18 19 20 21 22 23 Those three lines right in front of that desk a. We got three lines of people coming in, and And so it was -- it was a busy precinct when she came in, correct? A. Yes, sir, just - - just as she was coming in How many folks -- 1 actually. a. how many folks do you think were in there when she was there, voters? 24 A. Voters? 25 a. Yeah. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 104 1 A. Total? 2 a. And did you have any female or women volunteers 3 4 5 I'd say about 30 to 40. in there? A. Yes. We had one leave early because it got slow to a point, and she had to go take care of her 6 f ami 1y. I don't remember her name. I did 7 have enough -- there's two others, but there's a total 8 of four election clerks. 9 was there still. 10 We had a bilingual one. She She was sitting right next to me. And the other one was handing out the ballots. 11 a. Okay. 12 A. But I don't remember the third woman's name. 13 a. And you don't keep a you don't keep a 14 timecard of when someone votes. 15 you know, oh, they voted at 4:22 p.m. or anything like 16 that, correct? 17 A. No, sir. 18 a. That wouldn't - - 19 20 21 We don't write down THE REPORTER: a. Like if someone votes, {BY MR. ST. JOHN) -- Excuse me. You can't my question before you answer. let me finish Okay? 22 A. Uh-huh. 23 Q. Is that a yes? 24 A. Yes, sir. 25 a. You can't tell this judge what time my client ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 105 1 came and voted, can you? 2 A. I could probably say since I always wear a 3 watch, I check it every two minutes -- two to five 4 minutes, and it was around 4:00 -- 4:15 to 4:30. 5 a. And how 6 A. I check my watch. how do you know that? I -- instead of all the kids 7 at my high school where they use phones, I didn't have a 8 phone at the time, so I couldn't, you know, pull out my 9 phone because it's illegal in the voting-booth area to 10 11 pull out your phone. a. No, no. So I kept a watch on. My question is: So do you check -- 12 can you come back and tell us what time every single 13 person voted that day based on you checking your watch? 14 A. No, but I can make sure that I'm in the one 15 time -- in the precinct area. 16 quarter after 4:00. Like she came in around 17 a. Okay. 18 A. No, sir. 19 a. Hadn't been raining that day? 20 A. It rained earlier, and it rained later after 21 22 23 Was it raining? around 5:00 o'clock. a. So your best recollection is she was there at 4: 15 to vote? 24 A. Yes, sir, around that time. 25 a. But you didn't write that down, correct? ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 106 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 A. No, sir. 2 Q. Thank you. 3 wish the best. You seem like a smart young man. Be careful being a firefighter because 4 that's a dangerous job. 5 A. Thank you, sir. 6 Q. Well 1 I Okay? bless you, sir. 7 MR. ST. JOHN: 8 MR. NEWBERN: No further questions. Nothing further from the 9 State. THE COURT: 10 11 step down. All right, young man. You may Be careful. 12 THE WITNESS: 13 MR. SMID: Thank you. Your Honor, at this time the 14 State rests. THE COURT: 15 All right. Thank you very 16 much. 17 Do you need a moment? 18 MR. ST. JOHN: 19 THE COURT: 20 Call your first witness. 21 MR. ST. JOHN: 22 No, sir. We're ready. Thank you. Call Crystal Mason-Hobbs to the stand. 23 THE COURT: Ms. Hobbs come on up. 24 (Defendant approaches) 25 THE COURT: Ms. Hobbs, please raise your ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 107 right hand. 2 (Witness sworn) 3 THE COURT: 4 Ms. Hobbs, would you please print your full Please be seated. 5 and complete name on the pad of paper for the court 6 reporter? Thank you. 7 Mr. St. John, you may proceed. 8 MR. ST. JOHN: CRYSTAL MASON, 9 10 having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 11 12 13 14 Thank you, Judge. DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. ST. JOHN: a. Now, just for the record, Ms. Hobbs, you've been present during these court proceedings today? 15 A. Yes, sir, I have. 16 a. And, Crystal, you have a soft voice like a lot 17 of these folks do, so -THE COURT: 18 Can you move the microphone a 19 little bit closer to you and talk directly into it? 20 Thank you. 21 a. (BY MR. ST. JOHN) So I need you to speak up so 22 the court reporter can take down what you say. 23 somewhat stopped up today, but that's allergies, I 24 guess, and based on hunting too many times in my life. 25 And I'm So specifically, we're going to go through ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 108 1 this piecemeal and talk about your conviction in John 2 McBryde's court and what transitioned from there. So the whole issue is you're a convicted 3 4 felon; is that correct? 5 A. I am. 6 a. But more specifically -MR. ST. JOHN: 7 Let me look at those 8 exhibits, Your Honor. THE COURT: 9 10 11 You may. And, Mr. St. John, you may move about as you like without -- you don't need to ask any permission 12 of the Court. 13 MR. ST. JOHN: 14 THE COURT: 15 a. Thank you. Thank you. (BY MR. ST. JOHN) Now, there's a State's 16 Exhibit No. 1 that's a Judgment in criminal case, and 17 it's styled The United States of America versus Crystal 18 Lavon Mason-Hobbs. And that's you, correct? 19 A. That is. 20 a. And you had a pending case before the Honorable 21 John McBryde and were convicted for a specific offense 22 and sentenced to 60 months in prison; is that correct? 23 A. That's correct. 24 a. And what prison unit did you go to? 25 A. I self-surrendered to Carswell camp. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER . . . 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 a. 109 Do you remember specifically when Judge 2 McBryde first of all, let me start over. Did Judge McBryde take you into custody at 3 4 the day of sentencing, or were you allowed to 5 self-surrender? 6 A. I was allowed to self-surrender. 7 a. And for the record, the -- this judge knows 8 what that means because he was a federal practitioner. 9 But for the record, what does self-surrender mean? 10 11 12 13 14 15 Meaning I was able to walk myself into jail, A. you know, come in. a. And how long were you actually in federal custody? I was in custody for about two years and A. eleven months, something like that. 16 a. 17 some point? 18 A. I was for nine months. 19 a. Now, while you were in federal prison, was And were you released to a halfway house at 20 there ever any indication by anyone who worked for the 21 U.S. Government that you, being a convicted felon, could 22 not vote? 23 A. Never. 24 a. When you went to the halfway house, where was 25 the halfway house located? ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 A. I was on Avenue J. 2 a. How long were you in the halfway house? 3 A. I was there for six -- for three months, I 4 stayed there, and for six months I was on home 5 confinement. 6 report to the halfway house. So I was at my home, but I still had to And before I was able to be complete with 7 8 the halfway house, I had to go through pre-release 9 classes where you have to go back and meet with 10 different people and sign papers and everything before 11 you actually go on probation. 12 a. Well and this judge knows -- well, there's 13 no -- there's no federal parole law, so when you get 14 released from prison, in federal court, it's a 15 supervised release supervision, correct? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. But the entity that supervises folks is a 18 110 federal probation officer; is that right? 19 A. That's correct. 20 Q. When you transitioned out of the halfway house, 21 did you seek employment? 22 A. I did. 23 Q. And did you get a job? 24 A. While I was at the halfway house, I worked for 25 TxDOT. ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 111 1 a. What does that stand for? 2 A. Texas Department of Transportation on Mccart 3 Street. 4 Q. Oh, you worked at the big district office? 5 A. I did. 6 Q. And what did you do at the district office? 7 A. Pretty much check people in, did reports on the 8 highways. I was the receptionist there. Also, when the judges come in to meet with 9 the clients, I pretty much had the room set up for them 10 and everything. 11 a. 12 peace? 13 A. A -- you mean a judge or a justice of the No. It's the judge. The judge comes in 14 like say if it was an accident on the road and they were 15 coming to, you know, mediate the situation or whatever 16 with a judge, I would have everything set up for them to 17 18 come in. a. Let me do this. I'm going to adjust that 19 microphone because your voice is so soft. 20 you out. 21 22 23 Let me help So you got hired by the State of Texas. Did they know you were a felon? A. Yes, they were -- yes, they did. 24 through Goodwill Staffing. 25 part of the half -- Volunteers of America. I went So Goodwill Staffing is a So a bunch ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 112 1 of us get employed through them, and they gave all the 2 ' information to them, yes. 3 Q. How long did you work for TxDOT? 4 A. I worked there right at four, maybe five 5 months. 6 Q. And why did you leave TxDOT? 7 A. I got hired on at Santander making more money. 8 Q. And what -- what is that type of business? 9 A. Santander is an auto finance company, and I 10 worked for QA, quality assurance. 11 12 Q. And were they aware that you had a felony conviction out of federal court? 13 A. Correct, yes. 14 Q. How long did you work there? 15 A. I worked there up until this situation took 16 place, and they let me go. 17 Q. Regarding this -- this Indictment? 18 A. Correct. 19 Q. So tell the Judge how long you actually worked 20 there then. 21 A. I was there for right at a year, and my -- my 22 supervisor girl, foreman, she dealt with my -- my 23 supervisor at Santander. 24 everything. 25 Q. So she's fully aware of And then when this took place ... Now, when you were placed on supervised ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 113 release, do you go through orientation as a releasee 2 from federal prison? 3 A. Yes. 4 a. And does that orientation include thou shalt 5 6 not vote because you're a convicted felon? A. No. I sign forms of my condition that was by 7 Mr. Judge McBryde. And I also filled out forms that I 8 wouldn't be associated with a felon, I wouldn't be 9 around any guns and drugs, yeah, and I wouldn't be 10 subject in the beginning because I don't have a 11 a drug habit or anything. 12 13 a -- But starting out, I would have random numbers that I have to call in to do UAs. So I had to 14 go in and do UAs up till that was done. 15 a. But at no point were you ever told by anyone 16 with the United States Government that you could not 17 vote because you're a convicted felon? 18 A. No, sir. 19 a. And so after you were relieved from that job, 20 21 what have you been doing for a living? A. I'm an esthetician. I write -- while I was in 22 the halfway house, I was working and I was going to 23 school to Ogle. 24 I worked from 7:30 to 4:30. 25 5:30 to 10:00 night school, and I graduated in -- I So I went to night school . I worked I made it to the school by ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 graduated March, 2017, as an esthetician. 114 So I do 2 lashes and I do facials, and I have an event center as 3 well. So I schedule and book parties. 4 Q. Do you have any children? 5 A. I do. 6 Q. And how many children do you have? 7 A. I have three kids. 8 I take care of my brother kids, too, because he was gone, so I have his kids, too, 9 total of seven. 10 So let's draw our attention specifically to Q. 11 what you've been indicted for, that you voted in 12 violation of voting laws, more specifically, Texas laws, 13 that you voted on November the 8th of 2016 in the 14 general election and that you were a convicted felon. 15 Did you -- this is the big topic of 16 everything. The State's No. 9, this provisional ballot, 17 do -- do you remember filling out this white part of the 18 provisional ballot? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. Okay. I remember everything. So let's talk about that day. Where - - 21 were you working at that job that you were released from 22 that day? 23 24 25 A. I was working in Dallas. I worked for Santander at 1601 Elm Street -Q. Okay. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 A. 115 -- right where the shooting took place down the 2 street. 3 Q. Downtown -- 4 A. So that's where I worked. I got off work at On that -- wait a minute. So you got off at 5 6 7 4:30, so Q. 4:30 -- 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. -- in Dallas -- 10 A. Yes. THE COURT: 11 12 I got off of work at 4:30 in Dallas. moment. Okay. I need you to take a break. 13 THE DEFENDANT: 14 THE COURT: 15 Let's stop for just a Okay. You have to wait for your lawyer to finish his question before you speak. 16 THE DEFENDANT: 17 THE COURT: Yes, sir. Okay. It's not a race. 18 listening to everything you have to say. 19 to cut you off. 20 THE DEFENDANT: 21 THE COURT: I'm Nobody's going Okay. Now, if the Prosecution stands 22 up and objects, pause, let your lawyer speak on your 23 behalf, and we'll move from there. 24 THE DEFENDANT: 25 THE COURT: Okay. Okay. Ask your question again, ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 116 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 please. 2 a. (BY MR. ST. JOHN) What time did you leave work 3 in Dallas that day? 4 A. I got off work at 4:30. 5 a. And that was on November the 8th of '16? 6 A. That's correct. 7 Q. And from there, where did you go? 8 A. I went home first because my momma kept calling 9 saying, Crystal , you got to vote. I was 1 i ke 10 go vote. 11 going to do it. I This is -- Mom, I'm going to do it. you got to I'm 12 Q. How long did it take you to get home that day? 13 A. It takes me about an hour. 14 a. And was it raining 15 A. It was. 16 a. 17 A. Yes, sir, it was raining. 18 a. So you went to vote. 19 A. I went home first to pick up my niece because -- that day? she's 18. So I picked up 20 she hadn't voted. 21 my niece, Joanna Jones, and we went up there together to 22 the church right down the street, probably like four 23 minutes down the road. 24 25 Q. So I had Where did you go to vote? And when you went to vote, did you have your driver's license with you? ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 A. I did. 2 a. And was it the correct information on your 117 3 driver's license? 4 A. Yes. 5 a. And 6 MR. ST. JOHN: 7 THE COURT: 8 a. (BY 10 You may. MR. ST. JOHN) 9 9 that's in evidence. May I approach, Your Honor? I'm showing you now State's And is this your handwriting on the white portion of State's 9? 11 A. Yes. 12 a. Okay. 13 A. It is. 14 a. And is this your correct date of birth? 15 A. Correct. 16 a. Are those the last four numbers of your Social And is this your correct address? 17 Security number? 18 A. Yes, sir. 19 Q. Are you a U.S. citizen? 20 A. I 21 Q. Your gender is female? 22 A. Correct. 23 Q. So everything on this portion of this document 24 25 am. is truthful, true and correct, this white part, correct? A. Uh-huh. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 Q. You have to speak out loud. 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. Now, the question is: THE COURT: 4 118 Did you -- Excuse me. May I have -- may I 5 see the - MR. ST. JOHN: 6 7 apologize, Judge. I Thank you very much. THE COURT: 8 I'm sorry, Your Honor. You may proceed, if you don't 9 mind if I read - MR. ST. JOHN: 10 11 12 a. (BY MR. ST. JOHN) complicated. No, sir. This case is really not that The whole issue of this case revolves 13 around the left portion of State's 9 on -- I guess you 14 can use the word "admonishment." Let me ask you, you've heard testimony from 15 16 different folks about who's doing what. Did a woman who 17 worked in the polling place help you do anything? 18 A. Yes. 19 a. Do -- do you know her name? 20 A. I don't know her name, but I -- I do know -- I 21 22 wanted -- I want to tell you from step by step. a. We're going to do that. So you walk into the polling place. 23 24 25 What transpires, specifically? A. Okay. When I walked in, we looked up my niece ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 name first for her to vote. And then they realized that 2 she wasn't in the right location. 3 went to the car. 119 So she automatically A guy helped me, and when he -- he 4 1ooked me up 5 Q. Who 6 A. A gentleman, a man. 7 Q. Okay. 8 A. He helped me out. 9 me up. 10 who helped you? We looked by everything. -- And I remember him looking looked by both names and So we couldn't find me. 11 So then he said, Okay, well, what we can do 12 is you can do a provisional form. 13 you at the right location. 14 living here - - this is my address. 15 Mansfield. This is my home. And he said, So if I said, Well, I've been I pay my taxes to I've been here since '08. So I -- he said at this time, he said, 16 17 Well, you can do a provisional form. 18 Q. 19 hurry. 20 A. Talk a little bit slower. Okay. 21 And I -We're not in a He said, You can do a provisional form. And I was like okay. And he said that's 22 if you're at the right location, your vote will count; 23 if you're not, it won't. 24 Q. Okay. 25 A. I said, Okay, because I know this is where I ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 120 1 stay. 2 Let's stop for a second. Q, Was the man who testified earlier as the 3 4 election judge, was the person you talked to initially? 5 A. No. 6 a. Okay. 7 A. I know my neighbor. 8 Q. And that's not who you talked to? 9 A. Of course not. 10 Q. And he knows you? 11 A. He's -- he's my neighbor. 12 a. Correct. 13 That's my neighbor. So you know your neighbor? So the man that was talking to you about this was not the man that just testified? 14 A. No. 15 Q. And so let's go -- let's slow it down a little 16 bit. You're talking too fast for the court reporter. 17 Just slow it down. So once this man gives you the provisional 18 19 Okay? ballot, what happened? What did you do physically? 20 A. No. 21 a. Okay. 22 A. When I gave my license, they took -- then -- I gave my license. 23 when I gave my license and everything, they did whatever 24 they did. 25 my license, a lady instructed me. When they brought me back the paperwork with We sat on the table. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884--2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 121 1 Here's the first -- this is the first row where you walk 2 in. We sat on the table behind. 3 4 the table on the side. 5 side. 6 and she was 8 I didn't see anything on the I sat on the table behind. MR. SMID: 7 I'm going to object as to THE COURT: Just a moment. 10 THE DEFENDANT: 11 THE COURT: 15 16 The -- Just a moment. I'm going to sustain the objection. Rephrase your question. a. (BY MR. ST. JOHN) And you don't say what she said. 17 A. Okay. 18 a. The issue -- the question is: 19 I got to rule on the objection. 13 14 The lady sat there, hearsay at this point as to what the lady said. 9 12 I never sat on Did a woman help you with the provisional ballot? 20 A. Yes. 21 a. And, specifically, there is a portion in 22 State's 9 that has -- let me approach. 23 MR. ST. JOHN: 24 THE COURT: 25 May I approach? You may. And, Mr. St. John, you don't have to ask for permission anymore. Thank ANGIE TAYLOR ..... (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER ..... 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 122 1 you. MR. ST. JOHN: 2 Just trying to be polite, 3 Your Honor. THE COURT: 4 5 a. (BY MR. ST. JOHN) I understand. Now, we do know that the 6 gentleman testified earlier that the election 7 administrator -- election judge did write his name on 8 the back of this. 9 this portion out? Is he the one that helped you fill 10 A. No. 11 a. Different person? 12 A. Yes. 13 a. Now, let me ask you this: This is the crux of 14 this whole case: 15 left-hand side that's covered by a sticker. 16 going to get the one we can actually see. Show you now State's 8. 17 18 There's an admonishment on this Did -- I'm There's a portion that says, To be completed by voter, and then there's 19 Spanish for it. Did you read this warning, notice, 20 admonishment, about if you're a convicted felon, you 21 can't vote? 22 A. I didn't, sir. 23 a. Okay. Now, when you -- when you had this 24 document, you filled this out. 25 here, or do you recall? Was this little sticker ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON A. 1 I don't recall. 2 THE COURT: 3 MR. ST. JOHN: 4 123 May I have the documents? I'm sorry, Your Honor. Yes, sir. THE COURT: 5 a. 6 You may proceed. (BY MR. ST. JOHN) So once the provisional 7 ballot is filled out, tell the Judge what step you took 8 to actually cast your vote. 9 A. 10 everything Okay. 11 12 MR. SMID: Your Honor, I object as to hearsay again. 13 THE COURT: a. 14 15 The lady explained to me, Make sure Sustained. (BY MR. ST. JOHN) Were you given instructions to make sure that you filled out everything correctly? A. 16 Yes. That's what -- that's what we were doing 17 on this right side. 18 driver's license. 19 then -- then I -- 20 a. Go ahead. 21 A. I got -- She -- everything matched my That's what it needed to do. then I got the paperwork. And And when I 22 went through the paperwork, she walked me to this 1 i ke 23 the 24 screen. 25 what do I do. -- I sat down in the chair, and it's a little So I walked there and I looked, and I was 1 i ke And - - ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 a. Well, don't -- okay. -- 124 So here's the question: 2 Did you want to 3 ticket, or did you want to vote individually? did you want to vote a straight 4 A. Huh-uh. 5 a. Did she show you how 6 I voted a straight ticket. -- not how to do it, but the method - - the mechanism to do that? 7 A. Yes. 8 a. Because your vote is secret. 9 It's nobody's business what your vote was; is that correct? 10 A. That's correct. 11 Q. Okay. So once you cast your ballot, your vote, 12 what happened then? 13 14 A. I took what I had in my hand, and I had to put it somewhere. I remember that. And that was it. I 15 walked out. 16 Q. So here -- here are my questions: You are on 17 supervised release by a United States district judge who 18 is -- is no-nonsense. 19 freedom to vote in something that means nothing, to not 20 be with your family, to not take care of your family, to 21 not support your family, to not be with your children? 22 Would you have jeopardized that freedom if you knew you 23 couldn't vote because you're a convicted felon? Would you have jeopardized your 24 A. No. 25 a. If the voting judge, who apparently knows you, ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 125 1 had told you, Ms. Mason, I remember you went to jail at 2 some point, are you a convicted felon. 3 you that? Did he ever ask 4 A. No. 5 a. Now, the question I would suggest the Judge 6 might have is: There's some testimony you glanced at 7 the left-hand side of State's 9. 8 Did you -- did you look at the entire document, or was it -- was this place 9 crowded? 10 A. It wasn't crowded at all, sir. 11 a. Did you feel rushed in what you were doing? 12 A. I - - I di dn โ€ข t feel rushed at all. I just - - I 13 had the lady that was just telling me this part. 14 didn't -- I didn't even look over there. 15 attention. 16 know. I I didn't pay All I know it was a provisional form, you 17 I didn't pay attention to read anything 18 because it was -- she directed me to one area just to 19 make sure it was correct for my driver's license, and 20 that was it. 21 a. If -- if -- knowing that Judge McBryde will 22 come down with the wrath of himself, knowing that, would 23 you have jeopardized your freedom just to vote in 24 something that matters not in terms 25 something changing in your life? terms of ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON A. 1 All the motions I wrote to get out of there 2 when I was in there, why would I dare? 3 126 All the letters I wrote to the probation officer, Carol Foreman, why 4 would I dare jeopardize losing a good job, saving my 5 house, and leaving my kids again and missing my son from 6 graduating from high school this year as well as going 7 to college on a football scholarship? 8 do that, not to vote. MR. ST. JOHN: 9 I wouldn't dare I'll pass the witness. 10 THE COURT: Cross-examination? 11 Well, gentlemen, this is a good spot to 12 take a break because I have that meeting that I have 13 to - - 14 MR. ST. JOHN: Yes, sir. 15 THE COURT: have to host. 16 resume at 1:30. So we will We will be in recess until that time. 17 MR. ST. JOHN: 18 MR. SMID: 19 (Recess from 12:11 p.m. to 2:03 p.m.) 20 (Open court, Defendant present) 21 THE COURT: 22 MR. SMID: 25 Yes, sir. All right. You may proceed. Thank you, sir. CROSS-EXAMINATION 23 24 Yes, Your Honor. BY MR. SMID: a. Ms. Mason, I just have a couple of questions ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 127 1 for you. If I phrase a question in a way you don't 2 understand, just let me know, and I'll rephrase. Okay? 3 A. Okay. 4 Q. But it's safe to say you can definitely read 5 and write; is that 6 A. Yes, sir. 7 Q. And you are an intelligent person? 8 A. Yes, sir. 9 Q. And whenever you were going through your -- 10 your federal conviction, your sentencing, supervision 11 paperwork, you would have had to read a lot of documents 12 for that, correct? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. Okay. That's documentation. You wanted to be 15 sure that you could read, and you understood that 16 language, correct? 17 A. Yes. 18 a. Now, in 2004, you've heard some previous 19 testimony, specifically State's Exhibit No. 5, when you 20 originally registered to vote in Tarrant County. 21 in 2004, correct? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. And that was a presidential election. 24 25 It was I believe -- yes. Do you recall when you first voted in Tarrant County? A. Yes. I don't really recall. ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 Q. And when you showed up to the poll, you were 2 not on the list. 3 back then. 4 A. 5 6 I could have, yes. I remember filling out paperwork, yes. a. Yes, ma'am. MR. SMID: May I approach the witness, Your Honor? THE COURT: 9 10 You had to do a provisional ballot Do you recall? 7 8 128 Q. (BY MR. SMID) You may. I'm showing you what's been 11 admitted as State's Exhibit No. 5. 12 affidavit of provisional voting from 2004. 13 look familiar? 14 A. It's 15 a. Yes, ma'am. it's my writing. So this is the Does that It's my information. And you heard the previous testimony that 16 17 the Court says submitting a Provisional Affidavit, that 18 there would be this additional language in State's 19 Exhibit No. 8, which you've already seen, we've already 20 been over in great detail, correct? 21 A. Yes, I have. 22 a. So you heard the testimony that you would have Yes, sir. 23 had these admonishments or this affidavit back in 2004, 24 correct? 25 A. I would assume so, yes. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 a. 129 Yes, ma'am. And you understand the importance of these 2 3 admonishments. This essentially lays out the 4 requirements for eligibility to vote in an election here 5 in the state of Texas. 6 A. I 7 a. Yes, ma'am. understand it now, yes, sir. And in 2008, when you showed up at the poll 8 9 10 Do you understand? to vote -- and that was a presidential election, correct? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. November of 2008? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. Do you recall that? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. When you voted in that election, you were 17 actually on the list? 18 A. Correct. 19 Q. So you voted in the presidential election of 20 2004, you voted in the presidential election of 2008. 21 And then the presidential election of 2012 comes along, 22 and you were in the federal penitentiary, correct? yes. 23 A. Yes, I 24 Q. Now, when the election day came in 2012 and 25 you're confined in the penitentiary, were you able to ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 130 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 vote? 2 A. No. I was in prison. 3 Q. Were there voting polls open at the federal 4 penitentiary? 5 A. No, sir. 6 Q. Why not? 7 A. I was in prison. 8 Q. Right. 9 A. Correct. 10 Q. Why do you think there are not voting stations 11 in the penitentiary? 12 A. Explain yourself. 13 Q. It's safe to say it's obvious you're not 14 eligible to vote when you're in the penitentiary? 15 A. Okay. 16 Q. Is that correct? 17 A. Yes, I would assume so. 18 a. All right. 19 So it was clear to you at that time, when you were confined, that you could not vote? 20 A. No, it wasn't. 21 a. Well, could you vote? 22 A. I was in prison. 23 I wasn't thinking about voting, sir. 24 a. Did you know the presidential election came up? 25 A. Yes, sir, I did. But I was in prison. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT I STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 131 1 wasn't -- I'm not at my home address. 2 being at my home address, I can't go vote. 3 my home address. 4 So with me not I'm not at I'm in prison. It's safe to say that in Tarrant County, there Q, 5 are hundreds of polling stations, there's an opportunity 6 to send in a mail ballot, there are early-voting 7 stations. 8 its way to make sure everyone who's eligible can vote, 9 correct? It's safe to say that the County goes out of 10 A. Correct. 11 Q, But there was no mechanism to vote from the 12 federal penitentiary, correct? 13 A. No, sir, it wasn't. 14 a. Right. 15 So it is obvious at that time you were not allowed to vote. 16 A. I was incarcerated, sir. 17 a. Yes, ma'am. Now, upon your release, now, in 2016 when 18 19 you show up to the poll, you are not on the list. 20 you recall that? 21 A. Yes, I do. 22 Q, All right. Do So what is going through your mind 23 as far as why you're not on the list? Why do you 24 think -- because I know you had to have thought in some 25 way what -- Why am I not on the list. What was going ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 132 1 through your mind? 2 A. Well, actually, I had a voter's registration 3 card, too. I didn't bring it with me. But I was 4 thinking like I've been here since '08, and I'm not 5 understanding why would you tell me that this -- I might 6 not be here to actually vote. 7 location, and then I show my ID and everything saying 8 this is where I live, I've been living here, you know, 9 at that time, eight years, so I wouldn't assume that I 10 11 I couldn't vote at this couldn't vote. a. -- What between 2008, when on the list, 12 and 2016, you're not on the list, what critical event in 13 your life has taken place? 14 A. Okay. 15 a. Yes, ma'am. 16 A. Yes. 17 a. Okay. 18 A. It's 19 a. Hang on. I went to prison. You went to prison? 20 21 A. Yes, sir. 22 a. That's something that happened. 23 It did not even cross your mind a little bit that that's - - 24 A. Not 25 a. -- -the reason why you're not on the 1 i st? ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON A. 1 2 voted. Not at all. I wouldn't -- I wouldn't have I wouldn't have voted, sir, not at all . a. 3 133 All right. Now, you've received these 4 admonishments back in 2004, and your testimony today in 5 regard to State's Exhibit No. 8 and specifically State's 6 Exhibit No. 9, the exact affidavit, it's your testimony 7 that you simply did not read this? A. 8 9 me. I didn't, not at all. I had someone helping I had a woman that was helping me, and all she 10 explained to me was I'm doing it -- well, the -- the 11 gentleman told me that you can do a provisional form. 12 And on the provisional form, if you're at the right 13 location or if you're in the right area, then it's going 14 to count. 15 that's all I understood that form to be, was if I'm here 16 and I'm where I supposed to vote, it's going to count. If not, it won't count. So that's all I 17 That's it. 18 a. Do you recall Karl Dietrich? He testified. 19 You were in here for his testimony, were you not? 20 A. I was. 21 a. And he said that he told you, Please read this. 22 A. Karl - - 23 a. You 24 A. I 25 a. Did he tell you that? -- you heard that? did, yes, sir. Karl ANGIE TAYLOR- (817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 A. He didn't tell me that. 134 I didn't see him. 2 Karl is my neighbor. 3 a. You're saying you never even saw him? 4 A. Karl is my neighbor. 5 the street from me. 6 neighbor is. Karl stays right across So that means I -- I know who my So that means I would have had 7 conversation with my neighbor if I seen my neighbor. I 8 didn't even -- when I seen my attorney, I wrote on a 9 piece of paper, I said, That's my neighbor, what is he 10 doing here. 11 a. So it's your -- and let me ask you a question. 12 13 14 I had - - It's your testimony today that you did not even see him? A. I -- I did not see my neighbor. I would 15 have -- all I know is she took the -- she took my ID, 16 and they filled out whatever they needed. She went back 17 with me, and we sat on the back table. 18 When we sat on the back table, only thing I 19 did, she said, Make sure everything is -- I didn't -- a 20 man didn't help me. 21 young guy helped me at the front when he looked -- when 22 he looked me up. 23 A young guy helped me and -- a That's who helped me at the front. When I went to the back, I -- I sat behind 24 that first table. And she was talking to me, she was 25 stating that she had just bought a lot of land, they're ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 135 moving MR. SMID: 2 Your Honor, I object as to 3 nonresponsive at this point. 4 THE WITNESS: 5 THE COURT: 6 Sustained. 7 Ask your next question. Q. 8 9 10 (BY MR. SMID) I'm Just a moment. Are you saying that Karl Dietrich -- are you inferring he was not truthful in his testimony, yes or no? 11 A. He was not truthful at all. 12 a. Okay. 13 Let me rule. And you heard from Jarrod. Jarrod said that he saw you go line by line with your finger. Let me ask -- Jarrod saw you go line by 14 15 line with your finger on the affidavit language. 16 you saying that he's being untruthful as well? 17 A. That was not truthful at all. 18 a. Okay. 19 So you're saying that both of these men have just made this up? 20 A. What I'm saying is 21 a. Is it yes or no? 22 A. 23 24 25 Are it's not true at all, sir. It's not true at al 1 . a. Now, do you recall talking to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 136 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 A. I did. 2 Q. -- in March of 2017? 3 A. I do. 4 Q. Do you recall giving a phone interview? 5 A. I didn't give a phone interview. She told me 6 she was going to put everything in, but I did let her 7 know that - 8 a. Hang on. Let me ask a question. Do you recall telling the reporter -- I 9 10 believe it was an Anna Tinsley and a Deanna Boyd. 11 told them you did, in fact, skim the affidavit. 12 quote, skimmed it. 13 A. That's 14 a. Okay. 15 A. And -- and I didn't talk to a Tinsley. 16 So they're lying, too? Deanna Boyd? 18 A. Correct. 19 a. And Deanna - - you told Deanna Boyd that you did, in fact, skim this language? 21 A. No, sir, I didn't. 22 a. Okay. 24 25 I talked to Deanna Boyd. a. 23 You, that's not true. 17 20 You Have you had a chance to look at the article? A. No, I haven't. MR. SMID: Your Honor, may I approach? ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT 137 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON THE COURT: 1 2 a. {BY MR. SMID) You may. All right. Ms. Hobbs, I'm 3 showing you what's marked as State's Exhibit No. 11. 4 And to be fair to you, I'll let you look at this, and 5 let me know when you've had enough time to -- to look at 6 it and understand what it is. 7 A. Okay. I'm scanning through it. Where is it 8 that I 9 a. Yes, ma'am. And you understand State's Exhibit 11 10 11 A. Yes, sir. 13 Q. Yes, ma'am. It says, She acknowledges she 14 only skimmed MR. ST. JOHN: 16 Judge, I'm going to object 17 to him reading to something into the record. 18 even seen this exhibit. 19 THE COURT: 20 MR. ST. JOHN: 21 this appears to be the Star-Telegram article? 12 15 I I've not That's fine -So I don't know what he's talking about it. 22 THE COURT: 23 Don't read it into the record; just refresh 24 25 I've sustained the objection. the witness' memory. a. {BY MR. SMID) If you could read this paragraph ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 138 1 right here. 2 A. (Witness complies) . 3 Q. Have you had enough time to read it? 4 A. I did. 5 Q. And so you told Deanna Boyd that you - - again, 6 this is yes or no -- that you had skimmed through the 7 form, correct? A. 8 9 10 I don't recall saying that, but I'm sure I did. I had to scan through it, sir. it. I put my information on So we -- we would say yes. 11 Q. No -- skim through the affidavit language? 12 A. I didn't know. 13 Q. Yes or no? 14 A. No, I didn't, not at all. 15 Q. So Deanna Boyd's lying -- 16 MR. ST. JOHN: 17 THE DEFENDANT: 18 THE COURT: 19 MR. ST. JOHN: 20 21 22 Wait a minute. Wait -- She didn't Just a moment. Just a moment. I'm going to -- I'm sorry, Your Honor. THE COURT: It's okay. I'm just trying to control the courtroom. 23 Please don't say anything else. Okay? 24 And do you have a legal objection, Counsel? 25 MR. ST. JOHN: Well, it's leading, and ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 second, it's improper impeachment. 139 If Deanna Boyd is 2 outside to testify, sure, we'll cross-examine her. 3 We have a little issue of confrontation going on right 4 here. THE COURT: 5 Let's -- let's -- let me visit 6 with the lawyers on the side just real briefly. 7 you. 8 (BENCH CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS) 9 THE COURT: 10 13 MR. SMID: 16 17 In regard to leading, it's cross. THE COURT: 14 good on that point. 15 Do you have a response to his objection, or what are you trying to do? 11 12 Thank I know that. I think you're However -- MR. SMID: The rest of the -- the rest of the objection is confrontation clause. MR. ST. JOHN: Well, it's improper 18 impeachment unless you have Deanna Boyd outside for me 19 to cross-examine 20 MR. SMID: 21 THE COURT: 22 Okay. 23 24 25 I was simply asking -Wait, wait. Let me finish. So do you have a legal response as opposed to an argument? MR. SMID: Legal response in regard to the Crawford or the confrontation clause objection. ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 140 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON THE COURT: 1 2 impeachment. The confrontation, this is You can ask, do you know, are you aware. 3 That issue I'm not concerned about. But in terms of you 4 asking her about how to refresh her memory and things of 5 that nature, what are you trying to do? MR. SMID: 6 7 my point, really. I'm going to move on. I've made I just wanted to -- did she say that 8 or not, because it appears she did. THE COURT: 9 10 understand, myself. 11 clarification. Okay. I'm trying to And I'm going to ask for a 12 MR. SMID: 13 THE COURT: Sure. However, under 613, you can ask 14 whether the person made a statement, and you can follow 15 that rule. Sure. 16 MR. SMID: 17 THE COURT: 18 MR. SMID: 19 THE COURT: 20 MR. ST. JOHN: 21 THE COURT: 22 (OPEN COURT PROCEEDINGS) 23 THE COURT: 24 MR. SMID: 25 a. (BY MR. SMID) Okay. Yes, sir. Anything else? No. Thank you. You may proceed, Mr. Smid. Thank you, sir. Just to summarize, Ms. Hobbs, Al""lGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 141 1 your testimony is that you did not read this whatsoever? 2 A. I didn't, sir. 3 a. That is your testimony. Even though -- and you are saying that Karl 4 5 Dietrich and Jarrod, their testimony is untruthful? MR. ST. JOHN: 6 That's repetitious -- that's 7 repetitious, Judge. THE COURT: 8 9 going to overrule your objection. Just limit it to factual questions, please. 10 11 I can discern that, but I'm No argument. MR. SMID: 12 Yes. 13 a. (BY MR. SMID) 14 A. That's correct, sir. 15 a. Right. Is that correct? I know my neighbor. Also in regard to State's Exhibit No. 11, 16 17 did you tell -- or do you recall telling Deanna Boyd 18 that you are being targeted for prosecution? 19 A. No. 20 a. Would you like a chance again to review 21 A. I seen that, sir. 22 a. You saw it was in there, correct? 23 A. I seen it was in there, yes. 24 a. You did not tell her that? 25 A. That I was targeted? I seen it. ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 MR. ST. JOHN: 2 answered the question. 3 argumentative. This is -- legally, she's That's her answer, and it's I object. 4 THE COURT: 5 Rephrase your question. Q. 6 7 142 (BY MR. SMID) Sustained. All right. And the question is: You've had a chance to read State's Exhibit No. 11? 8 A. I did. 9 Q. And within there, that's made reference of 10 your, quote, that you've targeted for prosecution, 11 correct? A. 12 13 I seen it in there. And, no, I -- I didn't tell her I was being targeted for prosecution, no, sir. a. 14 So at this point -- we've already been over 15 this -- Karl Dietrich and Jarrod, but you're also 16 asserting that Deanna Boyd is untruthful, too? 17 no? A. 18 Yes or What I'm saying is she's in the -- she's -- 19 she 20 I know what I've said and what I told her, and I also 21 was -- I was -- I also was communicating with her 22 through my Facebook, too. 23 she writes in the paper. You know, I'm saying So, yeah, I do remember -- I do remember 24 the things that I told her, and I told her that I 25 wouldn't dare vote if I -- if I wouldn't have dared ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 143 1 if I would have seen that, I would have got up and 2 walked away. I didn't even want to go vote. My mom 3 made me go vote. 4 a. Now, you also heard from Karl Dietrich that he 5 said not only did he instruct you to read the affidavit 6 7 but he also had you affirm to what's in there. A. I heard that, sir, and that's incorrect. 8 didn't even -- I didn't deal with him. 9 I If he feel I remember -- I gave him my ID and -- like I said, I gave 10 him my ID. 11 wasn't the one that was with me. 12 If he filled out what he filled out, he I went and sat at the table with a lady. 13 She helped me out. 14 the booth. 15 booth, that was it. From there, she walked me over to From there, when I walked over from the If I would have seen my neighbor, I would 16 17 have .spoke to my neighbor. 18 prison. 19 neighbor know when I was fixing up my house. 20 neighbor. 21 right -- we're not around the corner from each other. 22 They are my neighbors, too, over there, they son. 23 didn't know; my kids knew, you know. 24 nine years. 25 My neighbor know I went to My neighbor know when I came back home. We share the same street. My He's my I mean, we are I We been there for But what I do know is Karl is my neighbor ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON I know who he is. 144 1 right in front of me. So if I would 2 have seen him, I would have had conversation with him. 3 Not only that, he -- he knew I just got -- he knew when 4 I got out. He would have been able to tell me, Hey, you 5 know, what's going on, you know. 6 nine years. 7 Q. 8 So it's your testimony that he's being untruthful in that regard, too -- 9 A. I'm - - 10 Q. -- 11 He's my neighbor for as far you -- let me finish - - in regard to you affirming to the language in this affidavit? 12 A. Very untruthful. 13 Q. Now, Crystal , you would admit that the language 14 within State's Exhibit No. 8 and State's Exhibit No. 9, 15 in regard to the green portion, the first paragraph, 16 it' s c 1ear? 17 A. Yes, sir, it is. 18 Q. Okay. It is. It's safe to say that anyone reading 19 this language would know, If I'm a felon or if I'm a 20 felon who has not concluded my sentence being on 21 supervised release 22 A. Correct. 23 a. -- it's clear I'm not eligible to vote? 24 25 cl ear - - A. Correct. ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT That's STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 145 correct? Q. You -- you would admit that? 2 3 A. You're absolutely correct. 4 a. You had made reference to -- I believe the last 5 word you said on direct was, Why would I put myself in 6 jeopardy, why would I put my freedom in jeopardy, I have 7 children. Did you have these same children in 2011 when 8 you committed this crime of conspiracy to defraud the 9 United States, yes or no, did you not? 10 A. I did, yes, sir. 11 a. Okay. 12 13 You didn't think about them at that time, did you? A. I did think about them. Every -- the whole 14 whole time I was gone for two and a half years, I 15 thought about them, so I would -- why would I leave them 16 again? 17 Q. 18 the crime? 19 A. I owned a tax office, sir. 20 Q. That 21 A. I Why would a mother do that again? Were you thinking about them when you committed -- that -- owned the tax office 22 MR. ST. JOHN: 23 THE COURT: 24 THE DEFENDANT: 25 a tax office. -- That is not Just a moment. I'm okay with it. I owned I was inflating and deflating returns. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 I'm okay with it. 146 Okay? 2 What I did was I helped people get more 3 money back. I ain't scared to say that's what I did. 4 So I'm okay with it. I did that. I admit that. It's 5 wrong. 6 But what I'm saying is I would never do it 7 again. I would never do anything else to jeopardize to 8 lose my kids again. I was happy enough to come home and 9 see my baby graduate, my daughter. 10 graduating again. 11 poll to vote. I wouldn't have dared went to the I haven't caught any -- any new offense. 12 13 Now my son is came back here and rehabilitated myself. I I went to 14 school for over 11 months and graduated from over 15 from an -- an aesthetician right now. From there the 16 whole time I was working and going to school. 17 own business now. Why would I do something that say, Hey, 18 19 I have my y'all, I got -- my house was in foreclosure. 20 what? I saved the house. 21 again. 22 I owe restitution. Guess Now everything is on track I'm paying what I can pay my restitution because You're absolutely correct. So why 23 would I turn around say, Hey, oh, I want to go back to 24 25 jail, I want to leave you again. THE COURT: Just a moment, Ms. Mason. ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT The STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 147 1 court reporter has raised her hand, and she cannot keep 2 up as fast as you're talking. Okay? So you can -- you 3 can state what you were going to state just a moment 4 ago. 5 Just slow down, please. Q. (BY MR. SMID) All right. Crystal, you were not thinking 6 about them when you defrauded the United States 7 Government of $4.2 million, were you? 8 MR. ST. JOHN: 9 THE DEFENDANT: MR. ST. JOHN: 10 11 That's not relevant -You -Judge. That's not relevant to this case at all. 12 THE COURT: Objection is overruled. 13 Cross-examination. 14 Q. (BY MR. SMID) You weren't, were you? 15 A. You don't even know the story of that. 16 You don't even know the whole story. 17 Okay? The reason why the money amount is the way it is is because what they did 18 was they took every return and they added it up 19 together, and that's the reason why it's -- it's that 20 amount. 21 It wasn't that amount at all. But -- but they hit us with the numbers, 22 sir, and that's what it is. If I had $4.2 million -- 23 but again, that was -- that was the returns that went 24 through the returns that didn't go through, and then you 25 go all the way back from the years that they couldn't ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 148 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 even still charge me for it. I didn't take anybody money. 2 I didn't run 3 away with nobody -- with anybody information. 4 was I helped people get more money back. 5 money it a. Ms. Hobbs -- 7 A. -- I did my time for it, sir. 8 a. Ms. Hobbs, was this a jury trial? 9 A. No. It was a trial -- Mr. -- Judge McBryde. 10 THE COURT: 11 MR. SMID: 12 THE COURT: please. I'm sorry. Restate your last response, What did you say? THE DEFENDANT: 15 THE COURT: What was your last response THE DEFENDANT: 18 when he said This was by Mr. McBryde he asked me was -- you're asking me about my -- the other conviction, right? 20 You said -- 21 THE COURT: 22 MR. SMID: 23 THE COURT: 24 MR. SMID: 25 This was a -- that you gave? 17 19 Restate -- I'm sorry. 14 16 They got more still was wrong, and -- 6 13 All I did a. (BY MR. SMID) Just restate your question. Okay. Yes, sir. Just restate your question. I wi 11 . Yes, sir. Was this a jury trial? ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 149 1 A. Was what a jury trial? 2 a. Did you -- did you go -- as you did today, did 3 you go in front of the Honorable Judge McBryde and did 4 you say, Your Honor, I am not guilty 5 A. No. I made a plea. I knew I was guilty. I 6 made a plea and I stood up and I got my punishment. 7 accepted responsibility. I stood up 8 a. You -- 9 A. -- and I -- and I apologized for my action. 10 11 12 13 Not only to ... a. But today you're saying you didn't defraud the United States Government out of $4.2 million? A. I'm -- I'm saying it -- the money amount is 14 it wasn't accurate. 15 the whole time I've been in there, too. 16 start out that amount. 17 Q. Okay. And it goes -- it's been going up 19 relevant to illegal voting. 20 any issue on voting, Judge. 21 THE COURT: Judge, legally, this is not This has nothing to do with Okay. What is your specific legal objection? 23 MR. ST. JOHN: 24 THE COURT: 25 So it didn't So the federal government got it wrong? MR. ST. JOHN: 18 22 I Q. (BY MR. SMID) It's not relevant. All right. Overruled. So the United States Government ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 2 got that wrong, correct? A. THE COURT: Counsel . MR. SMID: 7 8 9 10 a. She's answered your question, Move on. 5 6 Is that what you're saying? What I'm saying is the money amount changed. 3 4 150 (BY MR. SMID) Yes, sir. And who changed that money amount? A. I have no idea. Just 1 i ke it changed when I got out, it was a different amount. a. Now, ma'am, you understand the Judgment made at 11 the time of your sentencing, it says $4.2 million, 12 correct? 13 A. Yeah, it does. 14 a. So it was set in stone at that time at the 15 16 sentencing in 2012. A. It did. 17 was in jail. 18 19 a. So it did not change. It gained interest the whole time I So it did change. Finally, you've now had a chance to read the affidavit language, correct? Yes, sir, I have. 20 A. I have. 21 a. And you see in there it says, I understand that 22 this is a felony of the second degree to vote in an 23 election which I know I'm not eligible. 24 says that on the affidavit? 25 A. Yes, I see it. You did see it I seen it. ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 Q. 151 To anyone who would have read it, it'd be clear 2 this is a felony, correct? 3 A. If -- yes. If it was read, yes, it would have 4 been very clear. 5 MR. SMID: 6 THE COURT: 7 MR. ST. JOHN: 8 THE COURT: Just a few follow-up You may proceed. REDIRECT EXAMINATION 10 12 Redirect. questions, Your Honor. 9 11 I'll pass the witness. BY MR. ST. JOHN: Q. One question I did not ask you earlier is there 13 was some testimony that a letter was sent to you 14 previously about your -- your ineligibility to vote to 15 your home address. And I asked a question of the 16 witness, how do they know you received it, and they said 17 they have no idea if they did or didn't. Do you know 18 what I'm talking about? 19 A. Yes, sir. 20 Q. Did you receive a letter from Tarrant County 21 22 23 24 25 stating you could not vote? A. No, I didn't. And plus at that time, I was -- I was incarcerated. Q. Of course. I'm going to ask this question one more ANGIE TAYLOR ..... (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER ..... 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 time. 2 152 I think the Judge doesn't need to keep hearing the same issues. You're a convicted felon. 3 If you would 4 have read this document, would you have done it, yes or 5 6 no? A. Of course not. MR. ST. JOHN: 7 8 Honor. THE COURT: 9 10 MR. SMID: 11 THE COURT: 12 13 14 15 No further questions, Your Any further questions, State? Very brief, Your Honor. You may proceed. RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SMID: Q. Now, that day in 2016, did you vote electronically or with a written ballot? 16 A. In 2016? 17 a. Yes, ma'am, the election -- 18 A. I went to -- I went to the station. So when I 19 went there, the lady told -- I told her I wanted a 20 straight ticket, so she told me, Okay, yeah. 21 I went to the -- I went to -- no, I went to this little 22 thing, and I put some numbers in. 23 I put the paper up -- I -- I held the paper. 24 25 So, no, I remember that. And When I got through, I had -- I filled everything out and made sure it matches my ID, and then ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 153 we - - she walked me over there where I needed to go. Okay. Q. 2 3 No. 4 back And in regard to State's Exhibit - - this is the last question - - you saw the 9 -- you saw Karl Dietrich's signature on - - 5 A. I did see that, yes. 6 Q. That's his signature. 7 A. I seen all that. It was already -- it was 8 yes, it was filled out when she brought it to me. MR. SMID: 9 MR. ST. JOHN: 10 11 No further questions. No further questions, Your Honor. 12 THE COURT: May I have -- does anybody have 13 an objection if I ask some questions? 14 MR. ST. JOHN: 15 MR. SMID: 16 MR. ST. JOHN: 17 Oh, no, sir. Of course not. No, sir. I was going to bring this to the Court. 18 THE COURT: Thank you very much. 19 MR. ST. JOHN: 20 THE COURT: 21 Now, Ms. Mason -- just give me a moment. 22 Ms. Mason, I understand that you're in Yes, sir. The other one too, thanks. 23 front of Judge McBryde, and being in federal court is 24 obviously a little bit -- leaves an impression on you, 25 wouldn't you agree? ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 154 1 THE DEFENDANT: Yes. 2 THE COURT: 3 Now, one of the things is that there are a It does, doesn't it? 4 number of admonishments that are given to you at the 5 time you decide to plead guilty, correct? 6 THE DEFENDANT: 7 THE COURT: Correct, yes, sir. Okay. You need to talk loud 8 enough so that everybody can 9 10 THE DEFENDANT: THE COURT: Yes, sir. hear you. Your lawyer can 11 hear you, the Prosecutor can hear you, and then it's 12 clear for the record. 13 When you go and decide to plead guilty, 14 there is a plea-bargain agreement that outlines all 15 these different things that you're waiving, correct, in 16 addition to a Factual Resume, correct? 17 THE DEFENDANT: 18 THE COURT: Correct. Okay. And then some months 19 later, after a Presentence Report is prepared, you go 20 through a sentencing. 21 THE DEFENDANT: 22 THE COURT: Yes. And at the time of the 23 sentencing, Judge McBryde also reviews additional 24 admonishments that affects you years after that. 25 even talks about how you'll be placed on community ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT It STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 155 1 service -- you know, when you're put -- not pretrial 2 release, but your community service release, right? 3 THE DEFENDANT: 4 THE COURT: Yes. And so how long on probation 5 were you on after that, after you were released? THE DEFENDANT: 6 Okay. I was at the halfway 7 house for nine months, and then from there, August -8 August 16th. 9 probation since August 16th. 10 Okay. And then that's when -- so I was on THE COURT: Okay. So as you're going 11 through the probation community service -- during the 12 community service program through the district clerk, 13 you're going back to district court even after you're 14 released, correct? 15 THE DEFENDANT: 16 THE COURT: 17 How often did you go see Judge McBryde after you were released? 18 THE DEFENDANT: 19 THE COURT: 20 report. 21 department, though -- Never. Never? Okay. Some people do But you're still reporting to the probation 22 THE DEFENDANT: 23 THE COURT: 24 Okay. 25 Yes. Yes. correct? When you're released, you had to go see him one time before you were placed back on ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-234-1 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT 156 STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 probation? 2 THE DEFENDANT: 3 THE COURT: No. Okay. All right. So -- but 4 you did meet with the probation department? 5 THE DEFENDANT: 6 THE COURT: Yes. Okay. And so they're having 7 you sign all sorts of paperwork 8 THE DEFENDANT: 9 THE COURT: Yes. they're telling you how 10 you're going to report, and nobody mentioned to you that 11 you had a legal duty not to -- not to vote? 12 THE DEFENDANT: 13 THE COURT: 14 THE DEFENDANT: 15 THE COURT: No. Okay. No. All right. Now, you understand 16 that you did sacrifice a number of rights when you were 17 convicted of a felony, though, correct? THE DEFENDANT: 18 Yes. I knew from my -- my 19 supervised release. 20 you know, as what I'm supposed to follow. 21 remember with Carol Foreman everything that I filled out 22 and -- you know, like not being with felons, no guns THE REPORTER: 23 24 25 I know everything that's on there, I'm sorry. And I do Can you speak, pl ease? THE DEFENDANT: Like not being -- not being ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 157 1 around guns, not being around felons, no drugs, they can 2 search my house at any time and all that. 3 do. THE COURT: 4 5 So, yeah, I Okay. But the officer didn't review every detail of what was in the written 6 documents, did they, or did they not? 7 THE DEFENDANT: 8 THE COURT: No, they didn't. Okay. So clearly you had other 9 obligations that were contained in the paperwork related 10 to your probation, related to the conviction that you 11 had to follow, correct? 12 THE DEFENDANT: 13 THE COURT: Yes, sir. Okay. So I'm looking at what's 14 been handed to me in State's Exhibit 9 and -- I'm sorry, 15 No. -- yes, No. 9 and No. 8. 16 notice that even when you're -- you're filling out the And I can't help but 17 white portion of the affidavit -- and you understand the 18 significance of the word "affidavit" because you had a 19 Factual Resume or affidavit that that was filled out in 20 federal court -- 21 THE DEFENDANT: 22 THE COURT: 23 And there's some legal significance to 24 25 Yes. correct? this, correct? THE DEFENDANT: Yes. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON THE COURT: 1 2 158 And to the left, I notice that there are a bunch of arrows that are pointed to the 3 spots that you're filling in with a bunch of 4 information, and it further says to be completed by the 5 voter in the box. 6 THE DEFENDANT: 7 THE COURT: 8 THE DEFENDANT: 9 THE COURT: Yes, sir. Is that correct? Yes. So I just want to make sure. 10 You're explaining to me, despite all the documents and 11 the things that you've done in federal court and knowing 12 that this is a legal document, you wouldn't read that? THE DEFENDANT: 13 I -- I didn't really -- I 14 didn't really know it was a legal document. 15 is it was a -- it was a provisional form. All I know I didn't -- 16 we didn't go into THE COURT: 17 Well, I understand that. 18 my question, though, is that it says the word 19 "affidavit". But That has a legal connotation to it -- 20 THE DEFENDANT: 21 THE COURT: 22 THE DEFENDANT: 23 THE COURT: Yeah, it did. doesn't it? Yeah. And then, you know, voting is a 24 right, not a privilege. Well, it could be considered a 25 privilege as well, but voting is that you can lose that ANGIE TAYLOR- (817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 159 1 right. 2 THE DEFENDANT: 3 THE COURT: Correct, yes, sir. Okay. But you're telling me 4 you didn't read this, and because you didn't read it, 5 you didn't realize that you no longer had the right to 6 vote? THE DEFENDANT: 7 I had no idea. I -- I got 8 off work at 4:30, flew from coming home -- going home, 9 stopped by. It was raining. I had to pi ck up my niece. 10 We went up there, and I just listened to exactly what 11 they were telling me, and I just did it. 12 I don't even -- I can't even tell you if it 13 was open why I don't know if it was just the white 14 part, you know, where I had voted. 15 didn't -- all I did was make sure that -- can I see that 16 right quick? THE COURT: 17 Sure. I have no idea. I This was the one that 18 was actually filled out. 19 THE DEFENDANT: Yeah. I -- I -- I could 20 have did just like this and just filled it in. 21 know. 22 of this. I don't I can't really -- I didn't pay attention to any 23 Only thing I know is I wanted to make sure, 24 like she said, everything matched, everything matched on 25 my ID. So that was it. I didn't think that me ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 160 - - that I would be jeopardizing my freedom. 1 voting 2 wouldn't have did it. 3 have dared, if I would have dared looked over and even 4 read it, I would have got up and walked away. 5 not worth it. 6 judge is. 7 and he sent them back to make me to do it into a motion. I And if I would have - - if I would I know who my judge is. -- I It was I know who my I was the one that was writing letters, I was the one that was writing the Court 8 9 and writing my judge -- I mean, not -- writing my 10 probation officer trying to get out early, and it didn't 11 happen. 12 So I wouldn't have -- if I would have read 13 that, I would have left that paper and went -- went away 14 real quick. 15 not see that. 16 lady arrested me there, she said, You have a -- you have 17 a warrant out for your arrest for illegal voting. 18 I did not -- I did not read that. I did I had no -- when the lady -- when the I said, No, ma'am, I didn't illegal vote. 19 I used my ID, you know. And she -- because I didn't 20 I didn't comprehend that I wasn't supposed to vote. 21 as soon as I got out, I asked my probation officer like, So 22 What happened? 23 And she was like, well, she's going to 24 figure -- find out what's going on, you know. 25 I had no -- I would not have voted. But, no, It -- it wasn't ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 that serious. 3 I would not have did that. THE COURT: 2 161 All right. State, do you have any additional questions? 4 MR. SMID: 5 MR. ST. JOHN: 6 THE COURT: No, sir. No, Your Honor. Ms. Mason, you may step down. 7 Thank you very much. 8 (Defendant returns to counsel table) 9 THE COURT: Call your next witness. 10 MR. ST. JOHN: 11 MR. SMID: 12 MR. ST. JOHN: 13 THE COURT: 14 Judge, at this time rest. Rest and close? Close. All right. argument. 15 State, you may proceed. 16 MR. SMID: 17 We waive open/close, reserve the right to close. 18 THE COURT: 19 MR. ST. JOHN: 20 Thank you. THE COURT: 22 MR. ST. JOHN: 24 25 May I borrow that again, Judge, real quick? 21 23 Gentlemen, Yes. I' 11 come and get it. DEFENDANT'S CLOSING ARGUMENT MR. ST. JOHN: I'm going to be brief, because I would suggest that you are in a unique ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 162 1 position to actually evaluate the consequences that she 2 could suffer by committing a felony. You're more 3 uniquely qualified than any judge in this courthouse 4 because of what you did in the past in terms of 5 practicing before the Court in front of this very judge. 6 You know, she's not a lawyer. And I 7 noticed also that this document clearly had been folded. 8 I didn't fold it. 9 but someone folded this document before. 10 I don't know if Mr. Smid folded it, Why is Crystal Mason -- this is important, 11 Your Honor. 12 didn't tell the truth. 13 out, her date of birth, her driver's license, she signs 14 it. 15 get away with sneaky, phony? 16 Think about the reasoning part. Why she Every single place she fills Why she didn't tell the truth if she's trying to She's not going to do that because she's 17 trying to get away with committing a felony. 18 going to jeopardize being incarcerated again in federal 19 prison just to vote on something that really doesn't 20 change her life. 21 Why is she Her vote was not going to change her life. 22 It's not going to change anything she did in her life. 23 But what would change her life would be voting illegally 24 to knowingly do that. 25 I've known this Court for a long time, and ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 163 1 I know the Court is very articulate and thoughtful in 2 its process. 3 simple. 4 This is the issue, Your Honor. It's so In the Indictment, the State did not prove she intended to vote fraudulently. 5 More specifically, Crystal Mason did not 6 vote in an election when she knew she's not eligible. 7 She voted because she believed that she had a good-faith 8 belief, an honest belief, that she could vote. Kenneth 9 Mays testified, U.S. probation, never admonished her she 10 couldn't vote. 11 There's nothing in -- nothing when you pled 12 guilty in federal court, nothing that says you can't 13 vote. 14 you can't vote. 15 doesn't meet with anybody released on supervised 16 release, unlike Judge Means and O'Connor. There's nothing from any federal judge that says 17 I know John McBryde' s policy. He He -- she had no knowledge she couldn't 18 vote. 19 couldn't vote, she's never told in the halfway house she 20 couldn't vote. 21 probation officer on the fourth floor, she was never 22 told she couldn't vote. 23 She's never told in the federal prison she When she had orientation with the U.S She's not a lawyer. So she goes to vote in 24 good faith on general election day, leaves Dallas County 25 at 4:30, comes there in a pouring rainstorm. If you can ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 164 remember that day, it was pouring rain during the 2 general election. The young man who was a marksman with 3 his watch says she comes in at 4:15. I wonder if he 4 checked 4 or 500 people's that day to see what time they 5 came in. He's going to be a good young Air Force cadet, 6 a good kid, but he's wrong about that. And why the election judge is so obsessed 7 8 with getting Crystal Mason bad information, she -- she 9 knows that man. She could have talked to her neighbor. 10 And he signs it, but I suggest he did on the February 11 before. He didn't do it in her presence. 12 a election official woman that helped her with this. 13 The police report is -- it's in the police report that 14 she talked to a woman. 15 Your Honor? 16 She talked to So how she's making this up, I find that amazing that she's making this up today. I'm going to sit down now because I know 17 18 the Court will make the correct decision based on the 19 law and the evidence. 20 voted illegally. 21 and that's the clear issue. The Government did not prove she She did not know she could not vote, Yes, she's a convicted felon. 22 23 contest that. 24 and she voted in good faith. 25 We don't But she was never told she couldn't vote, THE COURT: Counsel? ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 165 1 MR. SMID: 2 Please the Court, Mr. St. John. STATE'S CLOSING ARGUMENT 3 MR. SMID: 4 5 Thank you. Your Honor, as Mr. St. John stated, there's only one element at issue here as the 6 Court well knows, did she know, did she know she was not 7 eligible to vote when she went there. Going back to 2004, this wasn't the first 8 9 time she voted provisionally. This wasn't the first 10 time she had to fill out this affidavit. 11 pointed out, obviously, a legal document, a document 12 with legal ramifications. 13 As the Court She was put on notice at that time what the qualifications are to register to vote. 14 In 2008, she votes. She's on the list. 15 2012, she's not able to vote. 16 It's clear at that point there's an issue, and you're 17 not eligible. 18 She's not on the list. 19 you're not on the list in 2016. 20 happened? 21 an issue, it's unbelievable. 22 In There's no polls in TDC. She's released in 2016. She shows up. You're on the list in '08; What critical event has To assert that you have no clue that this was With all that aside, everything I've said, 23 it's compelling evidence, but with all that aside, the 24 system has safeguards in place, Your Honor, and there 25 was a stop sign put right in front of her face. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT By her STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 own admission, the language is clear. 166 The document was 2 intact. Karl Dietrich took the stand. 3 He's got no 4 motivation to lie here, and obviously he's got a very 5 good memory about the whole ordeal, and it's his 6 practice. 7 important. He says, Please read this, read this, it's It's important to him. He further testified that had she not, had 8 9 she just taken it and filled it out, that would have 10 been an issue with him because it's important to him. 11 This is an important process. 12 No, please, you need to read this. 13 makes her affirm to it, just to be double sure that she 14 understands the severity of it. And he would have said, And that's why he Also young Jarrod, he recalls Ms. Mason 15 16 going line by line looking at it, putting her finger on 17 the language. 18 Ms. Mason, the last word she had on her initial direct 19 examination, what she left the Court with was, Why would 20 I do this; there's no reason to do this; Why would I put 21 my jeopardy (sic) at risk. 22 Jarrod has no motivation to lie here. But at that point she opened the door to 23 what happened back in 2011. Why put yourself at risk 24 back then? 25 because she obviously has put herself in jeopardy before That argument doesn't hold water with her ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 in 167 in a big, big way. Also in regard to that conviction, of 2 3 course, we had to prove it for jurisdictional purposes, 4 but as the Court well knows, that under Texas Rules of 5 Evidence, 609, that conviction is also relevant for 6 impeachment purposes to go towards the witness' 7 truthfulness or untruthfulness. And what it comes down to is: 8 9 Are you to believe Ms. Mason, or are you to believe Karl Dietrich 10 and Jarrod? 11 And that conviction has to go towards her credibility 12 under the rules of evidence. 13 It's one of the two that that has happened. But in the end, Your Honor, we assert to 14 the Court that this is clear, and we respectfully 15 request that you find her guilty of illegal voting. 16 Thank you for your time. THE COURT: 17 Counsel, I have a question for 18 you. Can you give me an objective fact that you're 19 relying on that indicates that she had knowledge that's 20 been produced during the trial? 21 MR. SMID: 22 THE COURT: 23 MR. SMID: 24 THE COURT: 25 Yes, sir. Not by inference. Okay. I'm talking about direct evidence. ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON MR. SMID: 1 2 168 I would say the direct evidence is, Your Honor, that Jarrod saw her with her finger on 3 the language or MR. ST. JOHN: 4 Pardon me. This is argument 5 on him, but that is clearly not his testimony, Judge, 6 and the Court can recall that. THE COURT: 7 And I appreciate that. Thank 8 you, Counsel. MR. SMID: 9 10 THE COURT: 11 MR. SMID: Yes, sir. You may continue. Jarrod's testimony that she had 12 her finger going through the language. 13 Dietrich's testimony going towards the fact that he told 14 her to read it. 15 language, Do you affirm that everything in this 16 affidavit is true specifically for that day in regard to 17 that affidavit, Your Honor. Crystal Mason affirming to the 18 THE COURT: 19 MR. SMID: 20 THE COURT: 21 MR. SMID: 22 THE COURT: 23 Thank you. Yes, sir. Anything else? Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. I'm going to take it under advisement, render my decision shortly. 24 Thank you. 25 Also, Karl We'll be in recess. (Recess from 2:46 p.m. to 3:26 p.m.) ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 (Open court, defendant present) 2 THE COURT: Ms. Mason, would you please All right. Based upon your plea of not 169 3 stand? 4 5 guilty and after hearing the evidence and testimony, the 6 Court does find you guilty of the offense of illegal 7 voting. Both sides ready to proceed on to 8 9 punishment? 10 MR. SMID: 11 MR. ST. JOHN: 12 THE COURT: 13 The State's ready. Yes, Judge. All right. Thank you very much. 14 Please be seated. 15 State, you may proceed. 16 MR. SMID: 17 Your Honor, at this time I will offer Thank you. 18 State's Exhibits Nos. 12, 13 and 14 after tendering to 19 Defense Counsel . 20 THE COURT: 21 MR. ST. JOHN: 22 Thank you. No objection to 12, 13 and 14, Your Honor. 23 THE COURT: 24 State's Exhibits 12, 13 and 14 are now 25 Thank you. admitted for all purposes. ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 170 1 (State's Exhibit Nos. 12-14 admitted) 2 MR. SMID: 3 THE COURT: 4 MR. SMID: 5 You may. With that, Your Honor, the State rests. THE COURT: 6 7 May I approach, Your Honor? Thank you. moment? 8 MR. SMID: 9 (Pause in proceedings) THE COURT: 10 11 very much. Yes, sir. All right, State. Thank you Call your next witness. MR. SMID: 12 13 May I have just a Your Honor, we rest -- State rests. THE COURT: 14 All right. Mr. St. John, you 15 may proceed. 16 MR. ST. JOHN: I made an inquiry if my 17 client wanted to testify in this part of trial. 18 indicated she does not; therefore, we rest. 19 THE COURT: 20 State, any argument? 21 MR. SMID: 22 Thank you very much. We'll reserve the right for final argument close. 23 THE COURT: 24 You may proceed. 25 She's Thank you. DEFENDANT'S CLOSING ARGUMENT ANGIE TAYLOR,... (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER,... 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 MR. ST. JOHN: 171 Needless to say, my client 2 is disappointed with the Court's decision, but we 3 respect the Court's decision. It's kind of a weird 4 circumstance, but another Court can actually give her 5 probation if it deems appropriate even though she is a 6 convicted felon. 7 If this was a jury trial, that would be a legal possibility, and we're not necessarily asking 8 for that, but that's something I'll ask the Court to 9 consider. 10 The range of exposure is from 2 to 20 years 11 in the TDC. As the Court knows, based on her direct 12 testimony, she has started over in her life, has a good 13 job, has taken care of her family and someone else from 14 her family. Her family is here today. 15 They've been 16 here supporting her the entire trial, so -- I'm not 17 going to spend a lot of time, Judge. 18 make the correct decision. 19 I think you'll You do know she's going to have to suffer 20 some consequences at the south end of downtown, which is 21 not your problem; that's her problem. 22 aware. 23 to TDC, then if McBryde revokes her supervised release, 24 he will run the sentence consecutively. 25 concurrent. The Court is The Court is aware that should you sentence her It will not be You know that's how he does stuff there. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 172 1 He never makes an exception to his rule, but that's not 2 the law. So if the Court feels compelled to 3 4 incarcerate her, which we hope he does not, ask the 5 Court to sentence -- sentence her to the low end of 6 the -- I would use the word "guidelines" or the 7 sentencing range and not at the top end. 8 Court deems it appropriate, in the best interest of 9 society, to suspend imposition of sentence, I'd ask the Or if the 10 Court to consider that. 11 THE COURT: 12 And, Mr. St. John, if I may confirm a Thank you. 13 couple of things with you as I'm reviewing her record, 14 and it 15 conviction, but she has a conviction for possession of a 16 forgery; is that correct? you know, notwithstanding the federal MR. ST. JOHN: 17 18 TDC. 19 believe she was on 20 suspended, Judge. 21 for any of that stuff. 22 them I can't hardly read. 23 I do know she never went to I have to check the prior criminal history. I she -- all those sentences were I don't think she ever went to prison THE COURT: I have to read the J&S. One of Well, I invite you to take a 24 look at it if you -- if you choose, but my reading of it 25 is that she was placed -- sentenced to two years in the ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884--2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 173 1 state jail probated for five years with regard to the 2 possession of a forgery. 3 not she -- she was -- she served it out successfully. 4 I just can't tell whether or So she stands convicted of a -- of a prior 5 forgery is my understanding. 6 understanding? MR. ST. JOHN: 7 8 Is that your Yes, that's -- that's true, but she -- it was a suspended sentence. I know she 9 wasn't incarcerated for it. 10 THE COURT: Thank you. 11 And then I have one that is from Criminal 12 District Court No. 4, tampering with a government record 13 to defraud or cause harm, and that was in 2009. 14 that's not related to this, of course. 15 MR. ST. JOHN: 16 THE COURT: No. And then she was placed on a 17 two-year deferred adjudication. 18 successfully? 19 MR. ST. JOHN: 20 THE COURT: 21 22 23 24 25 And Did she serve that out Yes. And then I have the arson case that is from 1992. MR. ST. JOHN: I notice in the J&S it -- can't really read it very well THE COURT: It's -- I know that it says that it's a arson case, but I'm not certain in the J&S ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 174 in terms of the actual punishment. 2 And, State, I do invite you to make a 3 comment if you -4 MR. SMID: Yes, sir. 5 THE COURT: You may. 6 MR. SMID: May I approach -- -- point something out in the 7 exhibit? 8 May I see the -- 9 MR. SMID: 10 THE COURT: 11 Take a look at those first. 12 MR. SMID: 13 (Pause in proceedings) 14 MR. SMID: Yes. Here's the first. Thank you, sir. The only thing -- the Court's 15 interpretation of State's Exhibit No. 12 and 13 is 16 correct. 17 only thing I did want to point out that you have to 18 really look for as a prior is on the criminal docket 19 sheet of 1995 of the deferred appears was adjudicated. 20 She was placed -- yes, sir, on the top of the docket 21 sheet. 22 to the Court. And in regard to State's Exhibit No. 14, the And that's the only thing I wanted to point out 23 THE COURT: Okay. And then with regard to 24 2001, the community service expired? 25 MR. SMID: Yes, sir. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 MR. ST. JOHN: 2 THE COURT: 175 Yes, sir. Okay. Meaning that she served 3 out the remainder of the probation after being convicted 4 of the arson case? 5 MR. SMID: Yes, sir, absolutely. 6 MR. ST. JOHN: Yes. She's never been to 7 TDC or state jail. 8 THE COURT: Thank you very much. 9 All right. Mr. St. John, you may proceed. MR. ST. JOHN: 10 11 my Judge, I really had finished -- 12 THE COURT: 13 MR. ST. JOHN: You have finished? -- argument to the Court. - - I'm really going to ask the Court to 14 ask the Court to 15 suspend imposition of sentence, and that might be a 16 stretch. 17 deal with these circumstances if the Judge believes he 18 should. I think the Court can let the federal judge 19 I want to reiterate -- and you know John 20 McBryde very well. 21 arrest based on this specific incident. 22 change his position, and that's something that we can't 23 control here. 24 imposition of sentence. 25 I He did not issue a warrant for her Now, he might But I'd ask the Court to suspend And we know voting is very serious. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT You STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 176 1 know, being the great grandson of a federal judge and 2 also a member of Congress, we understand how important 3 it is for voting to be truthful and accurate. And I 4 understand the Court has made a decision that she was 5 not honest; therefore, she shouldn't have voted. 6 But I ask the Court not to incarcerate her 7 based on these facts, Your Honor. 8 THE COURT: 9 Mr. Smid you may proceed. 10 11 MR. SMID: Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. May it please the Court, Mr. St. John. 12 DEFENDANT'S CLOSING ARGUMENT MR. SMID: 13 Your Honor, now that both phases 14 have concluded, I think it is clear this particular 15 defendant has no regard for the law. 16 deferred for arson. 17 1998, convicted of the felony offense of forgery. 18 placed on deferred for tampering, a felony offense. 19 course, the federal offense, which the Court is well 20 aware of now. In 1992, placed on Later on convicted of that felony. 2011, Of So in total now, this is her fourth felony 21 22 conviction and one deferred that was not a final 23 conviction. 24 voting, is just committed within three months of her 25 being placed on supervised release. Four felonies. This last felony, illegal It was August of ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 4-32ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 177 1 2016; this is November, 2016, when she commits this new 2 offense. 3 Finally, Your Honor, I'll leave you with 4 this. This process that we have, the voting system in 5 America, it is second to none. It is sacred to 6 Americans, and she has violated the sanctity of this 7 process, and we respectfully request that this Court 8 send a message to illegal voters that if you're going to 9 10 violate the sanctity of this system, it will not be tolerated and will pay the consequences. 11 12 We respectfully request the Court sentence this defendant to a stern prison sentence. 13 THE COURT: 14 MR. SMID: 15 THE COURT: 16 stand with your lawyer? 17 Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Mason, would you please This is in Cause No. 1485710D, styled the 18 State of Texas versus Crystal Mason. The Court having 19 found you guilty, assesses your punishment at five years 20 in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of 21 Criminal Justice. 22 It will be the Order, Judgment and Decree 23 of the Court that you be delivered to the institutional 24 director there to serve out your sentence as required by 25 1 aw. ANGIE TAYLOR-(817} 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 178 You will receive credit for any time that 1 2 you've served in connection with the case from the date 3 of the original arrest in this offense and for any time 4 that you remain incarcerated. If you are poor -- too poor to hire your 5 6 own lawyer for an appeal, one will be provided to you at 7 no cost to you. 8 at no cost to you as well. Also, a record will be provided to you Now, are you indigent, Ms. Mason? 9 10 MR. ST. JOHN: 11 THE COURT: 12 MR. ST. JOHN: 13 THE COURT: I'm retained, Judge. You are retained? Yes, I'm retained. Well, then I will ask that your 14 lawyer remain on the case until you've made an informed 15 decision regarding your appeal rights. 16 file a Notice of Appeal within 30 days of today's date 17 to preserve your right of appeal should you choose to do 18 so. 19 20 But you must Now, do you understand your sentence and your appeal rights, Ms. Mason? 21 THE DEFENDANT: 22 THE COURT: Yes, sir. Okay. And, Mr. St. John, do 23 you -- are there any other matters need to be taken up 24 at this time? 25 MR. ST. JOHN: No, Your Honor. ANGIE TAYLOR- (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER- 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 THE COURT: State? 2 MR. SMID: No, sir. 3 THE COURT: All right. 179 Court costs in the 4 amount of $289 will be assessed and be part of the 5 Judgment. Ms. Mason, I remand you to the custody of 6 7 8 the sheriff. The proceedings are closed. (Proceedings concluded at 3:46 p.m.) 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ANGIE TAYLOR-(817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - 432ND DISTRICT COURT STATE VS. CRYSTAL MASON 1 THE STATE OF TEXAS ) 2 COUNTY OF TARRANT ) 3 180 I, Angelica Taylor, Official court reporter in 4 and for the 432nd Judicial District Court of Tarrant 5 County, State of Texas, do hereby certify that the above 6 and foregoing contains a true and correct transcription 7 of all portions of evidence and other proceedings 8 requested in writing by counsel for the parties to be 9 included in this volume of the Reporter's Record, in the 10 above-styled and -numbered cause, all of which occurred 11 in open court or in chambers and were reported by me. 12 I further certify that this Reporter's Record 13 of the proceedings truly and correctly reflects the 14 exhibits, if any, admitted by the respective parties. 15 16 WITNESS MY OFFICIAL HAND this the 21st day of May, 2018. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 /SI Angelica Taylor ANGELICA TAYLOR, TEXAS CSR NO. 7180 Cert Exp. Date: 12/31/2019 Official court reporter 432nd Judicial District Court 401 West Belknap Street Fort Worth, Texas 76196 (817) 884-2341 artaylor@tarrantcounty.com 25 ANGIE TAYLOR - (817) 884-2341 OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER-432ND DISTRICT COURT