According to a report in the Hartford Courant and a Yahoo News Report dated 3/16/15, a Supreme Court ruling that people convicted in Connecticut for Marijuana possession now have the right to get their convictions erased.
The Supreme Court ruled that the violation had ben downgraded to the same level as a parking ticket.
“The 7-0 ruling came in the case of former Manchester and Bolton resident Nicholas Menditto, who had asked for his convictions to be overturned after the Legislature decriminalized possession of small amounts of pot in 2011.”
“It’s a topic multiple states will have to be facing,” said Aaron Romano, Menditto’s attorney. “Because marijuana is being decriminalized across the United States, this issue needs to be addressed.”
Connecticut and 22 other states allow marijuana for medicinal purposes, and 18 states have decriminalized possession of varying amounts. “The appeal involved the 2011 decriminalization and another state law that allows erasure of convictions of offenses that have been decriminalized.
A three-judge panel of the Appellate Court, the state’s second-highest court, agreed with prosecutors when it ruled in 2013 that convictions before the 2011 law took effect should stand.”
“The judges said the term “decriminalization,” as used in the state law allowing erasure of convictions for offenses that are decriminalized, means legalization. They concluded the state has not legalized possession of less than a half ounce of marijuana.”
The Supreme Court disagreed and stated that the legislature determined that such violations are to be handled in the same manner as civil infractions, such as parking violations. The state has failed to suggest any plausible reason why erasure should be denied.
We the people of Michigan should initiate an action such as this.
