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Citing the voter-approved Amendment 64, Boulder County's district attorney has begun dropping cases against adults caught with small amounts of marijuana. The Larimer County district attorney has declined to take the same step.
Boulder DA Stan Garnett on Wednesday announced that effective immediately, his office would no longer prosecute people age 21 and older caught with less than an ounce of marijuana or paraphernalia. Amendment 64, which legalized small amounts of recreational pot under Colorado law, is set to take effect early next month.
A Garnett spokeswoman said prosecutors in Colorado are obligated to drop cases if they don't think they will lead to a conviction.
"If you don't believe you can get a jury to convict, you have an ethical obligation to not go forward with a case," said Catherine Olguin, a spokeswoman for Garnett. "He doesn't believe he can get a jury to convict. And one of the standards prosecutors must meet ... is that they have a reasonable belief that they can get a jury to convict beyond a reasonable doubt."
The Larimer County District Attorney's Office will continue to review marijuana-related charges as it has in the past, while taking into consideration voters' passage of the amendment, said Linda Jensen, spokeswoman for District Attorney Larry Abrahamson.
"There is nothing in Amendment 64 which indicated it was to be retroactive to offenses which precede its effective date," Jensen said in a written response to a request for comment. "The District Attorney's Office for the 8th Judicial District will consider all the circumstances surrounding the charge, including the voter's intent in passing Amendment 64, in an attempt to reach a just resolution in each case."
Garnett has long argued that police and prosecutors should spend their time on what he considers more serious crimes, and in a news conference on Wednesday afternoon said his office would continue to aggressively prosecute cases of impaired driving.
Garnett's comments sparked a demand by the group that pushed for Amendment 64's passage that all Colorado DAs drop marijuana prosecutions.
"A strong majority of Coloradans made it clear that they do not believe adults should be made criminals for possessing small amounts of marijuana," Mason Tvert, a proponent of Amendment 64, said in a statement. "Colorado prosecutors can follow the will of the voters by dropping these cases today and announcing they are no longer taking on new ones."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: coloradoan.com
Author: Trevor Hughes
Boulder DA Stan Garnett on Wednesday announced that effective immediately, his office would no longer prosecute people age 21 and older caught with less than an ounce of marijuana or paraphernalia. Amendment 64, which legalized small amounts of recreational pot under Colorado law, is set to take effect early next month.
A Garnett spokeswoman said prosecutors in Colorado are obligated to drop cases if they don't think they will lead to a conviction.
"If you don't believe you can get a jury to convict, you have an ethical obligation to not go forward with a case," said Catherine Olguin, a spokeswoman for Garnett. "He doesn't believe he can get a jury to convict. And one of the standards prosecutors must meet ... is that they have a reasonable belief that they can get a jury to convict beyond a reasonable doubt."
The Larimer County District Attorney's Office will continue to review marijuana-related charges as it has in the past, while taking into consideration voters' passage of the amendment, said Linda Jensen, spokeswoman for District Attorney Larry Abrahamson.
"There is nothing in Amendment 64 which indicated it was to be retroactive to offenses which precede its effective date," Jensen said in a written response to a request for comment. "The District Attorney's Office for the 8th Judicial District will consider all the circumstances surrounding the charge, including the voter's intent in passing Amendment 64, in an attempt to reach a just resolution in each case."
Garnett has long argued that police and prosecutors should spend their time on what he considers more serious crimes, and in a news conference on Wednesday afternoon said his office would continue to aggressively prosecute cases of impaired driving.
Garnett's comments sparked a demand by the group that pushed for Amendment 64's passage that all Colorado DAs drop marijuana prosecutions.
"A strong majority of Coloradans made it clear that they do not believe adults should be made criminals for possessing small amounts of marijuana," Mason Tvert, a proponent of Amendment 64, said in a statement. "Colorado prosecutors can follow the will of the voters by dropping these cases today and announcing they are no longer taking on new ones."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: coloradoan.com
Author: Trevor Hughes
