Queens DA Dismisses 3,255 Marijuana Cases Following Legalization

QUEENS — Over 3,000 Queens misdemeanor marijuana cases were dismissed on Tuesday morning, marking a trend across New York City's district attorney offices following the state’s legalization of recreational marijuana.

“Our ongoing commitment to justice requires continued cognizance of laws that treat some of our communities unfairly,” said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, pointing to the “disproportionate impact” that marijuana cases have on people of color. In a span of 10 minutes, Queens Criminal Court Judge Jerry Iannece granted Katz’s motion to dismiss 3,255 cases, and he sealed them from the public record.

Katz’s move to dismiss the Queens’ cases follows similar motions by district attorneys in the city’s other boroughs — three of whom have already dismissed thousands of misdemeanor marijuana cases, most recently in the Bronx this June, following the state’s legalization in March.

As of March 31, when New York’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) was signed into state law, it has been legal for New Yorkers to possess up to three ounces of cannabis.

All of the thousands of now-dismissed cases in Queens were low-level marijuana offenses, according to the Queens DA.

Emma Goodman of The Legal Aid Society of NYC — one of the lawyers who appeared in court on Tuesday on behalf of legal groups that provide free counsel — said that the choice to dismiss these cases is “critical for our clients, the majority of whom are communities of color who can now move on with their lives.”

Goodman also said that in light of the passage of the MRTA, continued prosecution for low-level marijuana cases is “unjust.”

“For decades our clients have shouldered the brunt of marijuana prohibition, losing years of their lives ensnared in the criminal legal system and denied meaningful employment, housing and other opportunities,” she said.

After Bronx DA Darcel Clark expunged over 6,000 Bronx misdemeanor marijuana cases in June, a spokesperson for Staten Island DA Michael McMahon told the New York Daily News that DA McMahon is “in the process of dismissing more than 1,100 marijuana cases.”

The Manhattan’s DA office also plans to dismiss thousands of marijuana cases by the end of the month, according to Law360.