A Colorado court ruled on Thursday that some state citizens convicted of pot-related crimes can request their indictments be scrapped under the law that legalized recreational use of marijuana.
According to a report by the Associated Press, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled this week that folks appealing their marijuana-based convictions when Amendment 64 was put in place can ask to have their guilty verdicts overturned.
Brian Vicente, one of the measure's lead authors, said hundreds of citizens could be affected by the ruling - some inmates who received jail time for holding small amounts of marijuana might even be released, he told AP.
"This is a huge victory," he stated on Thursday.
The verdict stems from the case of Brandi Jessica Russell, who was arrested in 2010 after she and her husband took their child to the hospital and doctors suspected abuse. Russell was found guilty of possessing one gram or less of methamphetamine possession of marijuana concerntrate and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. A judge sentenced Russell in August 2011 to 192 hours of community service and four years of probation, AP reported. But now, her marijuana conviction could be overturned.
"The tide is turning," on public opinion concerning marijuana, attorney Brian Emeson said on Thursday.
"This ruling shows it would be wise for them to focus on more pressing matters," Emeson said of prosecutors after the ruling was delivered.
Judges stated in their verdict that Amendment 64 didn't explicitly say convictions given before the law's passage could be thrown out, but state law does allow a defendant to get post-conviction relief "if there has been a significant change in the law."
"Amendment 64, by decriminalizing the personal use of possession of one ounce or less of marijuana, meets the statutory requirement for a significant change in the law," the judges wrote in their ruling.
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