HOUSTON — It's been over a year since a Houston man was arrested after he waited hours in line for allegedly committing voter fraud.
"This brings this very long and stressful period to a close for Mr. Rogers,” said attorney Nicole Hochglaube.
On Friday, reacted to the dismissal of the voter fraud charges against her client, Hervis Rogers, after an appeals court ruled in a separate case that the Texas Attorney General's Office cannot initiate the prosecution of elections crimes.
“He's a hard-working man. There have been a lot of tears and a lot of stress," says Hochglaube.
Rogers was seen exiting a TSU polling place well after 1 a.m. having waited some six hours in line.
“It was my duty to vote,” he said that day.
A year later, he was arrested.
“There are two charges of voter fraud, which were both felonies, and they were both dismissed," Hochglaube said.
Rogers, as it turns out, was ineligible to vote. He was a convicted burglar and, under Texas law, prohibited from voting while on felony parol.
“Mr. Rogers, at every single point thought he was being a good community member doing the right thing and being involved as a good citizen should in his community," Hochglaube said.
Rogers was charged in Montgomery County, but he lives and voted in Harris County.
“The alleged conduct was never alleged to have happened in Montgomery County, it was always alleged to have happened in Harris County. And the allegations were brought under a very unusual interpretation of the law," Hochglaube said.
KHOU 11 reached out to the Attorney General's office but we have yet to hear back.