Challengers question timing of LA DA’s marijuana dismissals

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismissed nearly 66,000 marijuana convictions after District Attorney Jackie Lacey filed a motion this week asking for the dismissals. But Lacey's challengers in the Los Angeles DA race are questioning her timing as California's March 3 election draws closer while taking the incumbent to task for her past statements on low-level offenses.

Referencing the state's legalization of recreational marijuana in 2018, challenger George Gascon, who said he expunged more than 9,000 marijuana convictions in San Francisco in 2019 during his tenure as the county's DA, framed Lacey's announcement as a "two-year delay." It's "indicative of a dated approach that prioritizes punishment at all costs, even when it comes at the expense of hope, opportunity, rehabilitation, and community safety," Gascon said in a statement.

In an interview Thursday, challenger and former public defender Rachel Rossi noted that during a DA candidate debate in January, Lacey said her office didn't have jurisdiction over low-level offenses after the candidates all agreed they wanted to avoid criminalizing the homeless for acts like sleeping on the street or urinating in public.

"The LA county district attorney's office and LA city doesn't prosecute those kinds of cases. That's a city attorney, city prosecutor function," Lacey said during the debate.

On Thursday, Rossi said, "She does have power and authority over city attorneys, and she showed us that by exerting that power in this instance."

Lacey's motion this week noted her office received permission from LA, Inglewood, Torrance, Burbank, Santa Monica, Hawthorne, and Redondo Beach city attorneys, as well as Long Beach, Pasadena, and Hermosa Beach city prosecutors to handle those jurisdictions' misdemeanor cannabis convictions.

Of the 66,000 dismissed convictions, 62,000 were felonies dating back to 1961, according to a release from Lacey's office. The remaining 4,000 cases were misdemeanor possession cases.

Proposition 64, the voter initiative to legalize recreational marijuana, identified three felonies that qualified for resentencing after it went into effect in 2018: cultivation, possession for sale, and sales and/or transport of marijuana. It also required dismissing convictions for possession, which is a misdemeanor.

Lacey said she partnered with Code for America, a nonprofit technological organization, to develop an algorithm to quickly analyze county records and find cases that are eligible for dismissal under Proposition 64. In a press conference Thursday, Lacey noted she worked with Code for America to add additional criteria to the LA County algorithm to also include the convictions of people who are 50 years or older, and 21 years or younger. It also includes the convictions of people who haven't had another felony conviction in the past 10 years, or have successfully completed probation for a marijuana conviction.

Former San Francisco County District Attorney George Gascon (New York Times News Service)

San Francisco, Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Contra Costa counties have used similar methods to clear eligible marijuana convictions.

Under AB 1793, which was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, every DA's office in the state is required to review marijuana convictions that are eligible for relief under Proposition 64 before July 1.

"The dismissal of tens of thousands of old cannabis-related convictions in Los Angeles County will bring much-needed relief to communities of color that disproportionately suffered the unjust consequences of our nation's drug laws," Lacey said Thursday in a statement. "I am privileged to be part of a system dedicated to finding innovative solutions and implementing meaningful criminal justice reform that gives all people the support they need to build the life they deserve."