West Chester PA Marijuana Law Update

Impact of Marijuana Laws in West Chester & Chester County PA

Recently, the United States Supreme Court entered a ruling having potentially significant implications of individuals charged with marijuana and possibly suggesting that the supreme court may be de-emphasizing the seriousness of marijuana use if not actually decriminalizing it.   Need to learn more:  EMAIL or call an experienced Chester County Marijuana Possession Attorney at Ciccarelli Law Offices at (610) 692-8700 or (877) 529-2422 to discuss your rights and the implications of this Supreme Court decision on your future.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in April was that immigrants can not automatically be deported if they are convicted of relatively minor crimes involving marijuana.  The 7-2 decision involved a longtime resident of the United States from Jamaica who was deported from the US over a conviction for a small amount of marijuana.

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Contact Ciccarelli Law Offices if you or a loved on is facing criminal charges, arrest or citations for possession of Marijuana or Pot in suburban Philadelphia including Chester County (West Chester PA), Delaware County, Lancaster County, Montgomery County.  Contact us by EMAIL or call an experienced Chester County Marijuana Possession Attorney at Ciccarelli Law Offices at (610) 692-8700 or (877) 529-2422.

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With Justice Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissenting, Justice Sonia Sotomayer stated that crime must be more serious such as a sale or delivery of marijuana or pot; or the possession of a large amount of marijuana to warrant an automatic deportation.  The decision with allow the defendant in the case to return to the United States and fight his deportation over the conviction of a small amount of marijuana.

The case stems from Moncrieffe’s 2008 arrest in Georgia. Police pulled him over and found 1.3 grams of marijuana in his car, the equivalent of two or three marijuana cigarettes, Sotomayor said. He faced the charge of possession of marijuana with an intent to distribute, which under Georgia law encompasses a range of conduct from social sharing to distribution of larger amounts.

Moncrieffe accepted a plea with no jail time in which the charge would be expunged if he complied with his probation. Two years later, immigration agents jailed him and began deportation proceedings, citing the marijuana arrest. For deportation purposes, it was as if Moncrieffe had been a major drug dealer.

In the government’s eyes, Moncrieffe’s crime was serious enough to count as an “aggravated felony” and that it fell into a category that made his deportation automatic and deprived even the attorney general of the ability to step in and cancel it.  But Sotomayor said that under immigration law, a conviction that “fails to establish that the offense involved either remuneration or more than a small amount of marijuana” is not an aggravated felony.

She also dismissed the concern raised by Alito in his dissent that, because about half the states have statutes similar to the one in Georgia, many people convicted of marijuana crimes will avoid deportation because the state laws are not specific enough.

“Escaping aggravated felony treatment does not mean escaping deportation,” she said. It just means that the deportation is not automatic, Sotomayor said.

Thomas wrote that the Georgia law defines the crime as a drug trafficking offense, which should have resolved the case in the government’s favor

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