Bronx DA clears more than 6,000 cannabis cases

More than 6,000 cases involving the sale or possession of marijuana in New York are due to be closed after a district attorney in the Bronx gave the all-clear from a judge.

As reported by the London Free Press, George A. Grasso, the chief judge of the Bronx Criminal Court, “gave the Bronx Attorney Darcel Clark’s motion to dismiss” instead of cannabis

Judge Grasso hailed the decision made last week as “a historic day in the Bronx Criminal Court”.

“Our criminal justice system has responded quickly to the actions and intentions of New York State lawmakers in relation to over 6,000 pending and closed marijuana-related matters,” Grasso said in a statement. “This means that thousands of individuals (many of them young people of color) can now go about their business without being under the cloud of criminal affairs. I am proud of our court’s continued partnership with the Office of the District Attorney and Defense Bar in our efforts to bring about fair and impartial justice in Bronx County! “

When filing the motion in the courtroom, Clark said he had moved “6,089 cases to be dismissed on the sole charge of negligent possession or sale of marijuana.” Clark’s office said in a press release that these cases include “2,441 subpoenas, 1,998 pending cases.”

1,974 pending arrest warrants and 1,650 cases in which a plea has been filed and an open warrant is in place for failure to execute a sentence.

Clark referred to New York’s new marijuana law in a statement following the ruling. In March, New York lawmakers passed a bill signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo that ended the state’s ban on cannabis and replaced the old marijuana criminal law, Article 221, with a new one.

“Legislature has decriminalized the possession and sale of small quantities of marijuana to correct the wrongs of disproportionate enforcement and arrests in colored communities like the Bronx. We haven’t prosecuted these crimes in a long time because they

did not pose a threat to public safety and they gave people a criminal record that had negative side effects on employment, housing, education and immigration, “Clark said in a statement. “Our motion today is part of my ministry’s pursuit of justice with integrity. There is no point in spending prosecution and judicial resources on conduct that the legislature has decriminalized. Since Article 221 was repealed, there is no basis to continue the prosecution of pending cases that contain sole charges of possession and / or sale of marijuana for misdemeanor or active warrants in relation to those cases. “

Peter Jones, attorney in charge of the Bronx Litigation Bureau at Legal Aid Society, joined the chorus of revelers of the decision and thanked Clark on behalf of his group for “agreeing to dismiss thousands of marijuana cases for erasable crimes, and appreciate their recognition that continued prosecution for legalized matters is unfair. “

“For decades, our customers have borne and lost the brunt of the marijuana ban

Years of their lives entangled in the criminal justice system and denied meaningful employment,

Housing and other options. These layoffs are critical to our customers, most of them off

Color communities that can now get on with their lives, ”said Jones.

New York legalized marijuana in late March, ending years of frustration for state supporters. And while the regulated cannabis market is still more than a year away from opening, the new law has shown some immediate effects. Perhaps most notably, it is now legal to smoke marijuana anywhere tobacco smoking is permitted.

Post a comment:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *