In 2011, Inez Bordeaux was stopped for speeding in Oklahoma when she found out she had a felony warrant for her arrest in St. Louis. After spending time in the St. Louis City Justice Center, she was released and given five years’ felony probation, which was later expanded another year for another conviction. The felony charge immediately caused her to lose her voting rights.
However, in late 2016, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the statute under which she was prosecuted was unconstitutional.
“I should have never been charged with a felony. I instead should have been charged with a misdemeanor, which would have at most resulted in two years of probation,” said Bordeaux, who is deputy director of partnerships and organizing for ArchCity Defenders and committeewoman for St. Louis’ 3rd Ward. “By the time I went to court in 2017, to have to stand in front of a judge about whether or not my sentence could be vacated, I had already been on probation for six years.”…