Now that San Francisco’s top prosecutor essentially said he doesn’t care too much about old pot convictions that date back more than 40 years, the Long Beach city prosecutor’s office may be taking a second look at how to help those individuals who just want to clear their name.
Passage of California’s Proposition 64 in 2016 not only effectively legalized recreational marijuana, it also allows resentencing and dismissal of certain marijuana convictions.
Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert said in a phone interview that he plans to publish on his office’s website the case numbers for those individuals who may be eligible to petition the courts to resentence their convictions or to have them dismissed outright. He added that if people do find that their case is eligible, Haubert’s office would be available to assist with the petitioning process or at least provide them with the information they need for the petitioning process.
Haubert added that he also plans to ask the city council within about a month to see if they could support a formal program that would offer even more help to those who seek to clear their records.
The city prosecutor did not have any available figures, but he estimated Tuesday that the number of eligible cases could total into the thousands. He did acknowledge that details do have to be worked out. Haubert would have to determine just how far to go back in the court records.
He stressed the efforts of his staff.
“Our office does more–probably more than any other prosecuting agency in the state of California–to help people get their lives back in order,” Haubert said. “People who currently have cases in our office are given every opportunity to improve their lives, and we help them through the court process, and I want to focus the attention of my office on the people who are looking for assistance to improve their lives. It is not a priority for me to go back 30 years and ask for a dismissal when the person who was charged with the crime is not interested in the dismissal.”
Haubert’s plan to help those with minor pot convictions is substantively less far-reaching than San Francisco’s district attorney’s plans.
Earlier this month, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced that his office would dedicate its own resources to reviewing old marijuana-related records in his jurisdiction that date back to 1975. His office will be offering to take significant measures to toss out old cases or even resentence some felony convictions.
“The office is proactively dismissing and sealing 3,038 marijuana misdemeanors and reviewing, recalling and resentencing up to 4,940 felony marijuana convictions which were sentenced prior to Proposition 64’s passage in November 2016,” his office said in a press release. “In San Francisco, individuals eligible under Prop. 64 do not have to file a petition or appear in court to initiate the dismissal or declassification of their prior marijuana convictions.”
Some marijuana advocates liked San Francisco’s new policy, but they aren’t surprised by more cautious endeavors by other prosecutorial agencies. Joe Grumbine heads The Human Solution, a nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to helping support individuals in the court process. Grumbine himself ran into major legal trouble when, several years ago, he opened up a medical-marijuana dispensary in Long Beach.
As the Signal Tribune reported last month, Grumbine said his dispensary was raided in 2009, and two years later he was convicted for selling marijuana illegally. In 2014, an appeals court overturned his verdict, and the prosecution dropped his case thereafter.
Grumbine said in a phone interview this week, after he spent several years fighting his case, his record is actually clear. He said he has a lot of sympathy for those who want the same clean slate.
“An old conviction can stick with you forever,” Grumbine said, describing how new regulations on the cannabis industry require a background check. He explained that when individuals have an old conviction because they agreed to a plea deal instead of taking the case to trial, they may or may not be able to be involved in a legal business now that the industry has gained legitimacy. “It’s a big deal to a lot of people.”
Earlier this month, several news outlets reported that Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey would not offer an assistance program to those who want to clear their records. However, just last Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to create a plan aimed at helping individuals who either desire to wipe their minor marijuana convictions from the official record or who seek a reduction to their sentences.
