Ohio woman accused of illegally voting as a noncitizen acquitted at trial

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鈥檚 argument of entrapment. This generally entails a government actor leading a person into committing a crime they wouldn鈥檛 have otherwise committed.

Brown, a Democrat, said Dearaujo鈥檚 trial testimony lines up with the documentary evidence. She admitted to 鈥渋nconvenient鈥� 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.

鈥淭he defendant testified she never thought about voting or intended to vote until a BMV clerk, a government official, told her to register,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淭he court finds that Ms. Dearaujo has proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, an affirmative defense of entrapment.鈥�

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.

鈥淭hank you, thank you, thank you,鈥� 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 . Yost鈥檚 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鈥檚 anti-immigration rhetoric and spurious claims of widespread voter fraud from immigrants.

Neither the state prosecutor on the case nor Yost鈥檚 press team would say whether the office plans an appeal. Yost recently , effective June 7, to work for a religious conservative legal advocacy organization. Gov. Mike DeWine has since appointed Andy Wilson, current director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, to the role of attorney general.

Wilson said last week that he鈥檚 reviewing all current cases with rank-and-file prosecutors.

鈥淲e鈥檙e reviewing the ruling,鈥� said Steve Irwin, a Yost spokesperson, when asked for comment on the ruling Tuesday.

Dearaujo鈥檚 trial painted a far more nuanced picture of alleged voter fraud than the mosaic offered by conservatives. Rather than any efforts to deceive, the evidence revolved around a woman who spoke broken English and said she only voted after a BMV clerk suggested she could, and stopped doing so when the Secretary of State鈥檚 office told her it was illegal.

The decision is not a total surprise coming from Brown, who at a pre-trial hearing last year the timing of Yost鈥檚 indictment 鈥渇ishy鈥� and accused Yost of using Dearaujo as a 鈥減olitical prop.鈥�

Because Dearaujo waived her right to a trial by jury, she went through a 鈥渂ench trial鈥� where a judge decides the outcome.

What happened

Most of the facts of the case are uncontested. During a 2005 BMV interaction, Dearaujo registered to vote. And a form she signed at the time included a circle around the 鈥淵ES鈥� answer to a question of whether she鈥檚 a U.S. citizen.

She testified that she didn鈥檛 circle the box, and the state didn鈥檛 summon testimony from the BMV clerk who handled the transaction to confirm or deny.

Despite the registration, Dearaujo didn鈥檛 vote in the ensuing years.

Her vehicle registration expired in 2015, prompting another trip to the BMV. That鈥檚 where she says she was told she can vote. Her registration update form includes no answer to the same written question about her citizenship status, and a Franklin County Board of Elections official testified that policy at the time instructed clerks to review old data gathered by the BMV, which led the state to rely on Dearaujo鈥檚 2005 attestation.

She voted in the primary and general elections in 2016 and the general election in 2018, in person at the Heritage Free Will Baptist Church on Columbus鈥� south side.

A subsequent investigation from the Ohio Secretary of State鈥檚 office sent in the fall of 2019 informed Dearaujo that she, a noncitizen, voted in the 2018 election illegally.

鈥淚 am asking that you complete and return the attached form in order to confirm that you are a U.S. citizen, or cancel your voter registration if you are not a U.S. citizen,鈥� the letter states.

Dearaujo didn鈥檛 vote again until 2024, when she was a naturalized citizen.

Not out of the woods

While the acquittal is probably better than a finding of guilt, Dearaujo could still face significant legal consequences from the federal government, said Mark Nesbit, a longtime immigration lawyer, in an interview Tuesday.

Trial evidence shows Dearaujo, in her 2023 citizenship application, said she had never registered or voted in a U.S. election. Had she said yes, the application would have been rejected, according to testimony from immigration adjudicator John Matz.

It鈥檚 a to make false statements on a government form, and a citizen can be for making false statements in order to become naturalized.

Under previous presidential administrations, denaturalizations were saved for the worst of the worst offenders, like large-scale criminals or Nazi prison guards, Nesbit said. But Trump鈥檚 administration has been trying to ramp up the process exponentially.

Were she convicted, the administration would likely try to denaturalize Dearaujo, Nesbit said, which could then open the door to deportation or removal.

He鈥檚 less certain of the outcome given the acquittal, but thinks there鈥檚 still plenty of room for the U.S. Department of Justice to argue that she misrepresented a material fact on her citizenship application.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think she鈥檚 completely out of the woods,鈥� Nesbit said.

Who is Maria Dearaujo?

Dearaujo immigrated to Ohio from Arapongas, Brazil in 1993. She overstayed a visa but eventually met a U.S. citizen whom she married in 1997. She voted as a Democrat in 2016 and 2018, and as an independent in 2024.

Excerpts of her citizenship application shown at trial show she became a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. on Nov. 30, 1999. Signal Statewide has filed a records request with the court and Yost鈥檚 office for a full copy.

In a brief interview, Dearaujo said she currently works in a factory, and works hard there. She said she has one adult son.

While powerful forces were giving her a hard time, she said she hasn鈥檛 done anything wrong.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel guilty,鈥� she said.

What about the other illegal voting cases?

The six illegal voting cases Yost brought in 2024 have drawn poor results.

Two cases are pending in Franklin County.

One ended in public embarrassment. A Cuyahoga County suspect named by Yost had been d , prompting the county prosecutor to call Yost鈥檚 allegations 鈥渙ne of the greatest examples of prosecutorial overreach I have ever witnessed.鈥�

In Summit County, Lorinda Miller, who was 78 at the time of her indictment, entered an intervention in lieu of conviction, which allowed her to avoid a finding of guilt or any jail time.

Nicholas Fontaine, a native Canadian who moved to the U.S. as a small child, was charged with the same crime. His lawyer, Robert Walton, said Fontaine entered his plea of no contest (similar to a guilty plea) after two motions to dismiss the case failed. He did so knowing that he could face removal or deportation from the federal government, no matter the sentence.

Walton declined further comment on the case, but said Fontaine has no criminal history, he registered with the Selective Service when he turned 18, he works full-time, and he has a mother who lives nearby in Northeast Ohio.

___

This story was originally published by and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.