New Orleans, LA: Hundreds of low-level pot possession offenders are facing five-to-20 years in prison after being charged with felony offenses by The New Orleans new district attorney, according to an investigative report published this week by the newspaper New Orleans City Business.
The report finds that a disproportionate number of felony cases filed by District Attorney Keva Landrum-Johnson are related to the prosecution of small-time marijuana offenders who are facing their second or third possession offense. Critics of the policy charge, including Steve Singer, the Chief of Trials for the New Orleans Public Defenders Office, charge that the filings have “clogged the courts with non-violent, petty offenses, drained the resources of the criminal justice system and damaged low-income African-American communities.”
Under Louisiana law, first time pot possession is a misdemeanor offense. However, DA's may charge repeat offenders with either a misdemeanor or a felony. Under state law, a second marijuana possession offense is punishable by up to five years in prison. A third offense is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The city's previous DAs routinely charged repeat pot possession offenders with misdemeanors rather than felonies, the paper reported.
It estimated that the city courts could handle nearly 4,000 marijuana possession cases this year.“District Attorney Landrum-Johnson may think she's being 'tough on crime,' but really she's being dumb on crime,” NORML Legal Counsel Keith Stroup said. “Her constituents are demanding that she crack down on violent crime. Instead, the DA is clogging the courts and wasting police and prosecutorial resources by throwing the book at pot smokers.”
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