Coloradans Can Challenge Sentences for Marijuana Offenses That Are No Longer Crimes

Yesterday a
Colorado appeals court
ruled that Amendment 64, that state’s marijuana legalization
initiative, applies retroactively to people convicted of minor
cannabis offenses. The case involved a woman who was sentenced to
four years of probation in 2011 after she was caught with small
amounts of marijuana, marijuana concentrate, and methamphetamine.
After Amendment 64 passed, she appealed the marijuana convictions,
noting that the initiative had eliminated criminal penalties for
adults 21 or older who possess an ounce or less of marijuana
(defined to include marijuana concentrate). The Colorado Court of
Appeals
agreed that she was entitled to postconviction relief, citing a
statutory provision that allows “retroactive application of [a]
changed legal standard…in the interests of justice” when “there
has been significant change in the law.”

In 1978, for example, the Colorado Supreme Court
ruled that a marijuana dealer who received a sentence of five
to 12 years was entitled to a shorter term because the legislature
subsequently reduced the maximum penalty for his offense to one
year. “This rule applies to any case before final judgment,” the
court said. Hence marijuana offenders who have appealed their
convictions or sentences should be eligible for relief under
Amendment 64 if they possessed no more than an ounce or grew no
more than six plants, which is also no longer a crime under state
law.

Possessing less than an ounce of buds was a “petty offense”
punishable by a $100 fine prior to Amendment 64. But possessing any
amount of marijuana concentrate was a felony, and so was
cultivating any number of plants. People convicted of those
offenses could escape substantial penalties if their cases are
still on appeal.