Posted on 05/21/2026 10:20:59 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
A U.S. citizen was found not guilty Tuesday of illegally voting in the 2018 election when she was a lawful permanent resident of the United States.
A guilty verdict would have led to up to 18 months in prison for Maria Dearaujo, 63. But Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Chris Brown sided with the defense’s argument of entrapment. This generally entails a government actor leading a person into committing a crime they wouldn’t have otherwise committed.
Brown, a Democrat, said Dearaujo’s trial testimony lines up with the documentary evidence. She admitted to “inconvenient” facts like having voted when she knew she was not a citizen. But she got the idea from and relied on the advice of a Bureau of Motor Vehicles clerk.
“The defendant testified she never thought about voting or intended to vote until a BMV clerk, a government official, told her to register,” Brown said. “The court finds that Ms. Dearaujo has proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, an affirmative defense of entrapment.”
Dearaujo, who immigrated from Brazil in 1993 and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen 30 years later, clasped her hands in prayer-like fashion when the ruling was announced and seemed to cry.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said, to both Brown and her public defender, Jason Inman.
The verdict makes for a major loss for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican who trumpeted the charges against Dearaujo and five others to reporters at a press conference in October 2024. Yost’s announcement occurred in the early stages of his since-aborted 2026 gubernatorial run and amid a presidential election cycle dominated by eventual winner Donald Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric and spurious claims of widespread voter fraud from immigrants.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Chris Brown sided with the defense’s argument of entrapment.
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Hmmm
Voting is entrapment.
The BMV/DMV clerk should be thrown in jail upon evidence of entrapment for a known crime.
This crooked judge must be voted out of office. His term is up in 2027.
And this is why we have appeals. She isn’t out of the woods yet.
The government can’t appeal a not guilty verdict.
In Ohio, it’s the Bureau of Motor Vehicles ...
And here we see a major problem with “motor voter” ... use or abuse or the driver license system to corrupt elections. If this immigrant is not guilty by reason of entrapment, then the person who entrapped her should be prosecuted.
“Brown, a Democrat, ...”
That explains the ruling.
Circular logic.
The DMV clerks are following Federal law, the "motor voter" act requires them to sign up people to vote, it is up to the person registering to vouch for their own eligibility.
It seems the "entrapment" claim has effectively killed proof of citizenship to vote.
Yes! Exactly. Now arrest the DMV clerk. We all know who works at DMV, their political leanings and goals.
I wonder what the motive of the DMV clerk was. Was he/she a Democrat, trying to get a new voter, or a Republican trying to “entrap” her? If the former, I have difficulty viewing this as entrapment.
“spurious claims”
Uh-huh. Right Mr. Zuckerman.
50M+ illegal aliens in the US but Oh No, None, NONE of them are voting.
Sure. Uh-huh.
So instead of the FBI sending undercover agents to gun shows, maybe they should start sending them to democrat DMVs and arrest any employee allowing a known non-citizen to register.
So, AP lied when they labeled her as a u.s. citzen, because by her oen admission, she is not a U.S. citizen. The clerk at DMV needs to face charges, and the non-citizen still needs to be convicted, but again, another Democrat activist judge lets her walk.
“Oh, you should totally register to vote.”
“But I’m not a citizen.”
“But you wanna be, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Then fill this out then Democrat voter registration form. To participate in our democracy! It’ll be okay. You won’t be held accountable. I promise. In the meantime, you’re just practicing and fighting bad people at the same time.
“Oh! Great! …Hmm. But could _you_ get in trouble?”
“For what?”
…I agree. The DMV clerk needs to be put on trial.
The judge is saying it is entrapment when your co-conspirator is the government.
Another leftist judge with an idiotic ruling. That was not entrapment. The woman should also have known better. Ignorance of the law used to not be a defense — but I guess it is with leftist judges.
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