Case dropped against Memphis woman sentenced to prison on illegal voting charges
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Shelby County District Attorney's office dropped its case against Pamela Moses, the Memphis woman sentenced to six years in prison on charges of illegal voting.
Shelby County Criminal Judge Mark Ward ordered a new trial for Moses after the district attorney's office turned over a key piece of evidence that was previously misplaced by the Department of Corrections.
Moses was originally convicted by a jury of illegally registering to vote in a November 2021 trial. In February, she was sentenced to six years in prison.
The crux of the case rested on the question of whether Moses genuinely knew she could not vote in 2019. During a long-shot bid for a Memphis mayoral nomination, Moses' tried to restore her voting rights and asked a probation officer to complete the certificate that starts the process in Tennessee.
The officer certified Moses had completed probation for the crimes that stripped her of the right to vote. That turned out to be wrong, but whether Moses knew it was a mistake became the focus of her jury trial.
Moses has maintained she did not know the officer was incorrect.
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Her sentencing ignited a stretch of national media attention and community pushback. During this time, Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said her office offered Moses a chance to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and avoid jail time. Moses declined that offer.
Though Moses will not face a second trial, she will remain banned from voting due to a felony conviction in 2015.
Weirch's office issued the following statement Friday, in full below:
"Our original offer to the defendant Pamela Moses was a guilty plea to a misdemeanor and no time to serve. She rejected that offer and asked for a jury trial. At the conclusion of the week-long trial, the jury convicted her on the felony charge of false entry on permanent voter registration.
She was taken into custody and spent 75 days in jail before Judge Ward granted her motion for new trial. In total, she has spent 82 days in custody on this case, which is sufficient.
She is also permanently barred from registering to vote or voting in Tennessee as a result of her 2015 conviction for Tampering with Evidence. In the interest of judicial economy, we are dismissing her illegal registration case and her violation of probation."
This story is developing and will be updated.