Missouri marijuana laws need a complete overhaul. Adam Mace’s case is one reason why | Opinion
This week, a Cass County judge could hear arguments about why a man incarcerated for a nonviolent drug offenses should be released from prison. We’re watching closely, as should every Missourian who voted for Amendment 3, the state constitutional amendment that legalized recreational cannabis use for those 21 and older.
And the entire state is awaiting a ruling that could pave the way for other people who were convicted of minor drug crimes involving marijuana.
Adam Mace is three years into a five-year prison sentence for possessing more than 35 grams of marijuana, slightly more than one ounce. If the law rules in his favor, he could be released soon. Mace is the first person in Cass County and among the first in the state to test a provision under Missouri’s new recreational marijuana law. He won’t be the last.
His case is significant because it could set the precedent for how the state will proceed, according too Mace’s attorney, Justin Ortiz. “The intent of the law was to have (pot) become legal for everyone and get people out of prison for simple possession,” Ortiz said.
Prosecutors working on behalf of the state must keep the intent of the law uppermost in mind.
Cass County prosecutors could object to Mace’s release from Algoa Correctional Center, a state penitentiary in Jefferson City, Ortiz said. But keeping the prisoner behind bars would ignore voters’ intent.
Mace was arrested under Missouri’s archaic drug law, a patchwork system that targeted small-time dealers and pot users — the lowest-hanging fruit in the state’s pointless war on drugs. The result sent scores of nonviolent people to state prison for a drug now legal in Missouri — albeit with much-needed restrictions to regulate the market, as well as the substance’s chemical makeup.
As part of Amendment 3, incarcerated low-level offenders such as Mace can petition the court for post-conviction relief. He has. As of last week, the Cass County prosecutor’s office was undecided on opposing Mace’s request for expungement, according to court records. Cass County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Butler did not respond to requests for comment.
If his request were granted, Mace would be freed within days — or possibly weeks — after serving more than half his term for a crime voters clearly wanted off the books: minor possession of pot.
Mace’s case is complicated, which is one of the reasons it has drawn media interest.
In his 2008 arrest for minor possession of marijuana, Mace, who was 18 at the time, had no weapon and was not a drug dealer, Ortiz, his lawyer, said. Mace pleaded guilty to the crime and received a five-year prison sentence. He was placed on probation, but at 19 faced more serious criminal charges.
Then, Mace was intoxicated when he caused a crash that killed 44-year-old Denise Lero Greene on Highway 291 in Harrisonville. Convicted of first-degree involuntary manslaughter, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison. The conviction automatically meant that his parole in the marijuana case would be revoked. As a result, after serving 85% of his manslaughter sentence, he then started his five-year punishment for his marijuana conviction.
Mace said he seeks relief only for the pot conviction — something the judge and prosecutors in Cass County must consider without using his previous crime against him, according to Ortiz. Under Missouri Department of Corrections guidelines, he is eligible for conditional release.
Nobody disputes the involuntary manslaughter case against Mace. He should serve his time as mandated under state law. But keeping him locked up one day longer — taxing a U.S. incarceration system that is already stretched beyond its capacity, with more than 20% of the entire world’s prison population — is an injustice, and a screaming alarm about the state’s upside-down marijuana policy.
Prosecutors and judges must not ignore the will and intent of Missouri voters. The minor conviction records of every nonviolent cannabis offender must be wiped clean. And our state’s leaders need to undertake a top-to-bottom review of a drug enforcement system based on decades of incorrect assumptions and unfair targeting of people who have simply used a substance that is now legal for any adult Missourian.
Adam Mace’s case is a good place to start.
