MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Pamela Moses will not be tried a second time on the felony charge of illegally registering to vote, Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich announced Friday.
Weirich's office issued the following statement:
“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.”
Moses, who had prior felonies, was convicted in November of registering to vote illegally in Memphis in 2019 and was sentenced Jan. 31 to six years and one day in prison. She has said she was unaware that she was ineligible to vote. At the time, legal experts said her sentence was excessive.
Moses filed a motion asking for a new trial. In February, Criminal Court Judge Mark Ward overturned her conviction and granted Moses a second trial — which now won't take place.
In all, Moses has spent 82 days in custody on the case, “which is sufficient,” Weirich said in her statement.
Moses declined comment through a representative Friday.
Moses' previous felony convictions permanently barred her from voting. In 2015, she pleaded guilty to two felonies as well as three misdemeanors and was placed on probation for seven years. Moses said she thought her probation from the 2015 guilty plea had ended, and that she could begin working to restore her voting rights. Moses said the Tennessee Department of Correction gave her a certificate saying her probation had ended, but then rescinded the certificate.
Prosecutors said in February that Moses’ sentence was overturned and a new trial ordered because the Tennessee Department of Correction failed to turn over “a necessary document” in the case.
Judge Ward said at the time that he was treating that error as “an inadvertent failure.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
