San Diegans convicted in past years of marijuana offenses that are no longer illegal have been quietly getting their criminal records reduced — almost 700 of them so far, with another 4,000 cases awaiting action.
The adjustments come under a little-noticed provision of Proposition 64, the November 2016 ballot measure that legalized the possession and use of recreational pot by adults. It allows people to petition the courts for dismissal of their convictions, or reductions of felonies to misdemeanors and misdemeanors to infractions.
In San Diego County, a partnership between the district attorney’s office and the public defender identified about 55 people who were incarcerated (some serving sentences up to 18 years) or on formal probation for crimes that Proposition 64 legalized. Petitions for relief were quickly approved in Superior Court.
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