Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
NYC tosses 30,000 low-level pot cases
NEW YORK — More than 3,000 low-level marijuana cases were thrown out Wednesday as Manhattan’s top prosecutor furthered a shift away from arresting and prosecuting many people for small-time pot offenses in the nation’s biggest city.
Misdemeanor and violation-level pot possession cases that had sat open for as long as 40 years were dismissed in a matter of minutes after Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. asked a court to scrap 3,042 warrants for people who missed court dates and then to toss out the cases. Vance, who recently decided to stop prosecuting many minor pot-possession cases, argued it made sense to spare people potential arrests in old ones.
“If anyone was brought in today on one of these warrants, my office would dismiss the case,” Vance said. He called the mass dismissal “something that is off-script but actually serves the interests of justice enormously.”
None of the people charged in the cases was there to hear Criminal Court Judge Kevin McGrath wipe them out. With the dismissal, they no longer face potential problems getting jobs or housing if the warrants pop up during background checks, or possible arrest if their IDs are checked during otherwise routine interactions with police.
Vance and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez decided this summer not to prosecute most new misdemeanor pot possession and smoking cases, saying they had little public safety impact but caused defendants problems with employment, housing, immigration and more.