(Fwrd Axis) — Memphis Criminal Court Judge W. Mark Ward has ordered a new trial for Black Lives Matter activist Pamela Moses, who received a six year sentence in January of this year after she was convicted in November 2021 of illegally registering to vote.
Pamela Moses, who was also a candidate for Mayor of Memphis, filed documents in 2019 to have her voting rights restored while she was serving probation on a 2015 conviction.
“I did not falsify anything. All I did was try to get my rights to vote back the way the people at the election commission told me and the way the clerk did,” said Pamela Moses during her January 26 sentencing hearing.
Moses lost her right to vote after pleading guilty in a case involving evidence tampering, something sources say she didn’t do. Following her probation, Moses set out to restore her voting rights. The Tennessee Department of Correction and County Election Commission both signed off on Moses’ voter registration application.
There are several layers in the case of Pamela Moses but the most disturbing is that Moses was given the excessive six year sentence even though she received a letter from the Tennessee Department of Correction that claimed her rights had been restored. When Moses turned in the paperwork, she was led to believe that the probation for her 2015 felony had expired.
“The Tennessee Department of Correction failed to turn over a necessary document in the case of Pamela Moses and therefore her conviction has been overturned by the judge.” — Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich.
Read the new trial order here.
The officer responsible for signing the certificate, which gave Moses the impression she was eligible to vote, “failed to adequately investigate the status of this case,” according to Joe Williams, an administrator in the Tennessee Department of Correction.
The letter from the TDOC was never presented, pushing judge Ward to move forward with granting a new trial.
According to Josh Spickler, executive director of Just City, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office “has a reputation for failing to disclose material evidence.”
With that being said, all charges against Pamela Moses should be dropped. The only thing she’s guilty of is believing the people in authority were competent enough to do their job.
“We are so excited that the motion for new trial was granted for Pamela Moses and that she is able to return home to her family while she awaits trial. We hope that she receives justice and is found not guilty for the admitted mistakes of the state of Tennessee.” — Dawn Harrington.
