Before Biden pardons, Mecklenburg DA nixed minor drug cases — what’s next?
Mecklenburg County’s District Attorney will indefinitely stop prosecuting most non-violent low-level drug charges, he told The Charlotte Observer.
What started as a fix to court backlogs during the height of COVID-19 will now be permanent, District Attorney Spencer Merriweather says. The policy impacts those who have first time simple drug possession charges without a violent component.
The DA’s office was unable to say how many people have seen their charge dropped since starting the practice in November 2020.
Merriweather made the policy move before President Joe Biden announced he will pardon all U.S. citizens convicted of the federal offense of simple possession of marijuana. Mecklenburg’s approach to low-level drug crime dismissals goes farther than Biden’s reform because it encompasses hard drugs — including heroin, cocaine and meth.
However, neither the local or federal reforms prohibit police from making arrests on drug crimes.
That’s one reason many activists and lawyers in Charlotte say these measures still aren’t enough to keep vulnerable populations out of the criminal justice system.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police arrests for possession of marijuana are “very uncommon,” said Public Information Specialist Mike Allinger.
But Charlotte-area lawyers like Habekah Cannon are taking on clients each month with this charge.
These clients sometimes pay expensive lawyer fees and wait months for the charges to disappear from their records. Having the charges pending can impact housing and employment opportunities.
“Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit,” Biden said in a statement issued as the White House announced the pardons. “Criminal records for marijuana possession have also imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities.”
Cannon says by pardoning the offense, he has set an important precedent. “It’s significant as a first step, because it’s coming from the highest executive office in the sense that President Biden is giving an example that state governors can follow,” Cannon said.
Mecklenburg drug prosecution
Merriweather said he implemented the new policy in 2020 out of necessity, not as a political act or attempt at criminal justice reform.
Back then, the wait for a trial for low-level drug offenses was upwards of three years due to a spike in violent crime and backlogs caused by courts being closed or reduced for months, he told The Charlotte Observer.
“We had to do something different, and so I made the decision that we were going to immediately divert simple possession cases,” Merriweather said.
“... There’s a great chance that the prosecutors on that team are now going to be dealing with drug trafficking cases, or high end burglary cases and that’s in line with the priorities that the community expects from my office.”
Those with dismissed charged are not required to attend rehab or other programs — something that commonly can happen in drug court — but Merriweather says officials do direct defendants to resources that can help them.
It’s unclear, he says, what impact the practice has had on recidivism.
“We’re still at a point where we’re looking to see the results. Obviously, there’s a lot of changes and challenges in the criminal justice system, from the pandemic and a whole host of other things over the course of the last couple of years,” Merriweather said.
A roadmap for states
Kristie Puckett Williams, Deputy Director for Engagement and Mobilization for the ACLU of North Carolina, said low-level drug charges and the barriers that come with them predominantly impact Black and Brown communities.
Puckett Williams and Cannon hope Biden’s announcement will encourage other states and county leaders to act.
Puckett Williams says there are over 2,000 collateral consequences someone can face when they have a drug charge on their record. These include everything from losing housing and employment, to social services and food stamps.
“This will really free up people’s ability to maybe have more economic mobility, which is something that we know that folks in Charlotte struggle with a lot,” Puckett Williams said.
Advocates like Puckett Williams and Cannon want officials like Governor Roy Cooper to take the next step and to decriminalize drug possession on a state and local level.
Cooper said he is supportive of Biden’s decision to issue the pardons, and he plans to look into the possibility of decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of the drug, The News & Observer reported.
“A lot of times people have paid their debt to society, but they have to deal with the residual effects of having a record ... It is time to pardon people,” Cannon said. “I would encourage and hope that our governor would look into it and not only adopt that federal recommendation from President Biden but also expand it a little bit to grant other North Carolinians some relief.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
