Governor To Pardon Thousands Of People Convicted For Pot [Archive]

Origanalist

12-16-2016, 07:42 AM

It's a start...

“Drug War Has Failed” – Governor To Pardon Thousands Of People Convicted For Pot

By Matt Agorist

Montpelier, VT — Those members of government who are willing to challenge the status quo and stand against injustice are few and far between. Those members of government who not only stand against injustice but take action to reverse are all but entirely mythical. However, Vermont governor Peter Shumlin is one of those people.

Peter Shumlin just announced one of the boldest moves by a politician in recent history — he is going to pardon thousands of people whose lives were ruined by the war on drugs.

“Today I am announcing an effort using the Governor’s pardoning power to expedite our move to a saner drug policy and criminal justice system,” the Governor said on Thursday. “Decriminalization was a good first step in updating our outmoded drug laws. It makes no sense that minor marijuana convictions should tarnish the lives of Vermonters indefinitely.”

According to the most recent data in 2014, police arrested 1,561,231 people for drug violations in a single year — 83 percent were possession only. Of that 1.5 million, 700,993 arrests were for marijuana — 88 percent of those arrests were for people possessing the plant only.

“It could have happened in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s. There are thousands of them,” said Shumlin.

Year after year, and now, decade after decade, millions of otherwise entirely innocent people have been deprived of their freedom, kidnapped, had their lives ruined, were thrown in a cage, or killed by police officers who are just doing their job while enforcing this immoral war on drugs.

Given these numbers, everyone in America is either related to or knows someone who has been arrested for drugs. An unfortunate minority have even seen their family members or friends slain in the name of this immoral war. The effects of police ruining so many lives enforcing drug laws have created the hostile environment in which we find ourselves today.

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presence

12-16-2016, 08:09 AM

Shumlin's pardons may be hard to implement Posted Thursday, December 15, 2016 8:21 pm
By Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First
MONTPELIER — Gov. Peter Shumlin does not expect to check with law enforcement officials before granting full and unconditional pardons to people responding to his offer to wipe criminal convictions for small amounts of marijuana off their records.

As of Wednesday about 330 people with marijuana possession convictions had filed the pardon request form that Shumlin's office placed on his website on Dec. 8 when he announced his program.

There are an estimated 10,000 to 17,000 people possibly eligible for the full pardon for minor amounts of marijuana, the Governor's office told Vermont News First this week.

That means between 357 and 607 pardons applications would need to be processed and ruled on each day - including Saturdays, Sundays, and state holidays for Christmas and New Year's - between Shumlin's announcement and when the Governor leaves office on Jan. 5.

The work is being done by the staffs at the Vermont Criminal Information Center and the Vermont Corrections Department, Shumlin spokesman Scott Coriell said. He said the criminal records are being checked for each person in all 50 states and the federal systems for convictions and to see if any charges are pending.

The offenders must have no violent offenses or felonies on their criminal record.

It remains unclear who will pick up the tab for the work and associated costs. The Vermont Crime Information Center normally charges individuals $30 to run their criminal records check, according to its website.

"We are not billing anyone," Jeffrey Wallin, the director of the VCIC, said. He offered few other comments and referred most questions to the Governor's Office.

Wallin did say no overtime would be used. He said his office employs 14, but declined to report how many are working on the pardon process.

"I can't comment. That would have to come from the Governor's Office," he said. The Governor's Office did not respond to the follow-up inquiry.

Department of Corrections Commissioner Lisa Menard said she has limited staffing available to do the work.

"I can only speak for DOC. We have 2 people who are incorporating it into their existing work when they are able," Menard said in an email to Vermont News First.

"They don't have a quota. They are processing as/if time permits. These are record check reviews," she wrote.

NO POLICE INVESTIGATION

The past process for pardons by Shumlin and previous governors is to reach out to the criminal justice system members to see if they had opinions on possible pardons.

This time there is no plan to include direct involvement by state and local police or the arresting agency, Coriell said. He said the Corrections Department and VCIC are taking the lead.

He said those agencies could reach out to the arresting officer or the arresting agency in some cases if questions are unanswered, but did not expect that on each case.

It also remained unclear how VCIC and Corrections would be able to tell the exact level of drugs involved in a case without the police files.

State Police Capt. John Merrigan, commander of the Vermont drug unit, did not respond to an request for an interview.

PROSECUTORS NOTIFIED?

Coriell said Shumlin's office reached out to the state's attorneys and the Vermont Attorney General's Office to explain the program, but "got no pushback."

Coriell said the people with convictions also can apply to the courts to have their records wiped clean through the expungement process.

A check of 7 of the 14 state's attorneys by Vermont News First showed 4 counties were never contacted and 3 did not return phone messages.

Washington County State's Attorney Scott Williams, Franklin County State's Attorney Jim Hughes, Essex County State's Attorney Vince Illuzzi and Grand Isle County State's Attorney Doug DiSabito said their offices were never notified.

"It is not a bad concept," Williams said. He noted that somebody with a possession conviction could be shut out of working in food service at a nursing home.

Illuzzi said he also can see merit in the proposal, but agreed with Williams that it should never have waited until the last minute.

"It should have been planned a long time ago," Illuzzi said. He said the law making possession of up to one ounce of marijuana a civil offense was approved by the Legislature more than three years ago.

Williams called the proposal "a gargantuan undertaking" in just four weeks. He said more planning and personnel were used when the state offered to forgive drivers with suspended licenses.

Hughes, who gets a lot of marijuana possession cases intercepted at the international border, also was surprised by the little time allowed.

The three prosecutors acknowledged the specific details of each drug case can be different, but the conviction can show as a simple possession count.

"Some of them (possession cases) were amended to that charge from more serious offenses. It is problematic to give a blanket approval. There could be more to the story," said Illuzzi, who served with Shumlin in the senate.

"That is why it should be on a case-by-case basis," Illuzzi said when asked if persons charged as dealers, but dropped down to possession cases should be approved for pardons.

Somebody arrested on three counts of selling marijuana and another person found with a single roach of marijuana could apparently both end up with full pardons if the prosecutor allowed both to plead guilty to simple possession.

Williams, Illuzzi and DiSabito all said they learned about the pardon offer by reading newspapers.

PARDON REQUESTS ARE PUBLIC

The names of those applying to Shumlin and the names of those eventually granted pardons are considered public record under Vermont law.

Gov. Thomas P. Salmon tried in 1974 to hide the names of the people he pardoned during his first term when The Burlington Free Press asked for the public records. Salmon was later instructed by both his own lawyer, Thomas Hayes, and then-Vermont Attorney General M. Jerome Diamond that an act of a Governor was considered a public event and the records had to be released.

A class action lawsuit was later filed to block the release by Salmon but the Vermont Supreme Court ruled in 1977 the names are public records. The ruling struck down a lower court decision that said the requester had to say why he or she wanted the documents. The high court said private agreements between the Governor and those seeking pardons to keep the cases secret had to give way to the public's right to know.

Many of those seeking pardons were young people wanting to become lawyers, a Salmon spokesman said at the time. He said 40 pardons were granted during Salmon's first term in office. By the time Salmon left two years later, the number had increased to about 300. About 70 pardons were issued by Salmon for criminal convictions obtained by corrupt Police Detective Paul Lawrence, who framed dozen of suspects and eventually was convicted himself for false testimony.

Depending on how many pardons are approved, Shumlin could set a new mark for the most criminal convictions wiped off records by a Vermont Governor.

NEW PUSH BY SHUMLIN

Shumlin's office announced Wednesday it has helped create a new public service announcement trying to encourage non-violent offenders with convictions for small amounts of marijuana.

The legislature passed a bill in 2013 and Shumlin signed into law a provision making possession of one ounce of marijuana or less a non-criminal offense.

During the 30-second PSA, Shumlin said 1,000s of people were convicted "long before I fixed the law." Now he wants to assist those people. Speaking to those Vermonters, Shumlin says he wants to help those whose convictions are "holding up your ability to get a job or other challenges."

Applications will be accepted through Christmas. Shumlin has said there is no guarantee of a pardon just for applying.

http://www.reformer.com/stories/shumlins-pardons-may-be-hard-to-implement,492344