Boulder County DA wants to toss out 4,000 marijuana convictions

B OULDER» The district attorney’s office is preparing to vacate and seal thousands of marijuana possession convictions in light of voters legalizing marijuana in 2012.

Ken Kupfner, Boulder County’s assistant district attorney, said the DA’S office identified about 4,000 marijuana possession convictions since 2008 that would no longer be crimes with the passage of Amendment 64.

While the office pulled numbers from 2008 to get an idea of how many possession cases were being processed every year before marijuana legalization, Kupfner said the eventual goal is to clear older convictions too.

“This is really a program based on fundamental fairness,” Kupfner said. “This is conduct that is no longer illegal. It just seems like the right thing to do in these circumstances is to vacate and seal those convictions.”

Convictions for possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana or 1 ounce of marijuana as well as paraphernalia charges will qualify under the new program.

Kupfner said cases of possession with intent to distribute will not qualify, and cases that include additional charges will not be considered.

“Say someone has a DUI or a DWAI and a possession conviction; that case is not going to go away,” Kupfner said. “This is really designed for people who would not have found themselves in the criminal justice system today.”

Kupfner said the DA’S office will hold a clinic in early 2019 in which people with marijuana convictions can have prosecutors look up their cases to see if they qualify.

If they do, prosecutors will file a motion to dismiss the conviction and seal any records associated with the case.