MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis activist and local Black Lives Matter founder Pamela Moses has filed a lawsuit over a conviction on charges of illegally registering to vote, which were eventually dropped in April 2022.
The suit names former Shelby County D.A. Amy Weirich, the State of Tennessee, and current Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy.
According to the lawsuit filed Oct. 21, 2022, Moses claimed she suffered from “false arrest and malicious prosecution” by the D.A.’s office, “in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.”
What the lawsuit claims
The lawsuit specifically accuses then-D.A. Amy Weirich of knowingly withholding evidence that was not addressed during the trial over Moses registering to vote, which it claims would have exonerated Moses.
In particular, it cites an email by a senior corrections department official about an internal investigation, which the lawsuit said acknowledges a mistake was made by a manager who signed off on the restoration of Moses’ voting rights. The lawsuit claims despite this, Weirich moved forward with the prosecution.
Moses spent 82 days in custody during the prosecution. The lawsuit claims Moses suffered “severe emotional distress, anxiety, mental anguish, embarrassment, and harassment as a result of the Defendants’ actions.”
The lawsuit claims policies and customs implemented by the State of Tennessee allowed Weirich to continue with a “malicious” prosecution. It claims the state acted with “deliberate indifference” by failing to properly train its agents and officers.
The lawsuit asks for compensatory and punitive damages. Read the full lawsuit HERE.
What led to the court case over her voting rights
Pamela Moses had previous felony convictions which permanently barred her from voting. Those came in 2015, when 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. According to the lawsuit, Moses said the Tennessee Department of Correction gave her a certificate saying her probation had ended in 2019, and she was unaware that she was ineligible to vote.
At that time, Moses also announced her candidacy for mayor, but was ruled ineligible by a judge who determined she was still on probation.
Prosecution and conviction
The lawsuit said Moses registered to vote after getting the certificate and was approved with the Shelby County Election Commission. The lawsuit said “at no time” did Moses falsify documents related to restoration of her voting rights. The lawsuit said both the Shelby County Criminal Court and State Probation Office signed the certificate of restoration of voting rights form.
According to the lawsuit, Moses now believes the court made a mistake by issuing her the certificate, but that it was not her fault. The lawsuit said the Shelby County D.A.’s office knew it was the court’s mistake yet continued to prosecute her for illegally registering to vote.
Moses was convicted in November 2021 of registering to vote illegally in Memphis in 2019 and was sentenced Jan. 31 to six years and one day in prison. At the time, legal experts said her sentence was excessive.
New trial ordered and charges dropped
After the conviction, Moses filed a motion asking for a new trial. And in February 2022, Criminal Court Judge Mark Ward overturned her conviction and granted Moses that second trial.
Prosecutors said at the time 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 he was treating that error as “an inadvertent failure.”
The D.A.’s office then announced in April 2022 it was dropping the charges. In a statement at the time, then-D.A. Weirich released 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.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
