'Irrational' Alabama marijuana laws alter lives, drain state resources, report says

Melissa Brown | Montgomery Advertiser

For Mary Thomas, losing her voting rights was the most painful part of pleading guilty to a marijuana possession charge in 2011.

Thomas, a black Alabamian, came of age during the civil rights movement. But after a family friend-turned-confidential informant landed her in jail, she was unable to cast a vote for the nation's first black president in 2012.

"That hurt me more than anything that has ever hurt me," Thomas said. "I was stripped (of my rights)."

Thomas is one of thousands of Alabamians subjected to "irrational, arbitrary and harsh" marijuana possession laws in the state, according to a new report published by the Southern Poverty Law Center and nonpartisan advocacy group Alabama Appleseed.

The report contends the state's possession laws are draconian and erratically enforced, allowing prosecutors to charge some with life-altering felonies while others walk away with misdemeanors. SPLC and Appleseed also outline the strain marijuana cases place on both manpower and monetary resources in the state at a time when myriad criminal justice entities are cash-strapped and inundated by backlogged caseloads.

More: 'Escalating cycle' of Alabama court fines, fees counter public safety aims, new report says

For Thomas, her Northport home was a "happy house" where all were welcome for dinnertime and video games. She welcome a friend of her grandson to stay. He helped her in the garden. She cooked him meals.

But on Feb. 22, police conducted a search warrant at Thomas' house. The report states her grandson's friend was a confidential informant for police, passing along information to cops to "keep himself out of trouble."

Thomas' arrest affidavit states investigators found marijuana inside a tupperware bowl, along with "package (material) and scales," though SPLC and Appleseed contend it was a small bag of marijuana. She was charged with possession "for other than personal use," a felony.

"I had a special-needs child at home. I couldn’t leave him, and I didn’t want to lose my job," Thomas said. "I did what I had to do."

Thomas pleaded guilty at her attorney's advice, paying more than $6,000 for bond and a lawyer's fees. She faced another $2,000 for court fines and fees.

Her license was automatically suspended for six months, forcing her to rely on help to get to and from her midnight shift at a halfway house. Even worse, Thomas said, was losing her right to vote, an automatic consequence triggered by state law at the time.

Alabama's constitution permanently stripped felons convicted of crimes involving "moral turpitude" of their right to vote, but the 1901 document did not clarify which crimes actually fall under the "moral turpitude" label.

In 2017, the Alabama Legislature passed the Definition of Moral Turpitude Act, which defined 46 offenses as "crimes involving moral turpitude," according to The Associated Press. Drug possession crimes are no longer included.

However, many Alabamians who were previously unable to vote are not aware of the change in law.

More: Former inmate working to help current inmates cast votes

"How would we know if they didn’t put it out there?" Thomas said. "I didn’t know."

The report estimates Alabama spent some $22 million to enforce marijuana possession in 2016, an enforcement which often adversely affects black Alabamians. Data compiled by SPLC and Appleseed found black people approximately four times as likely as white people to be arrested for possession, despite black and white people using marijuana at roughly similar rates in the U.S., researchers said.

In the early hours of Sept. 15, 2016, Wesley Shelton went to sleep on a bench in the 2300 block of East South Boulevard in Montgomery.

A police officer woke him and asked to search his bag, where he found $10 worth of marijuana, according to the report.

Shelton was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana in the first degree, a felony, due to a prior possession charge. His arrest affidavit states the "leafy green substance" amounted to about 2.2 grams.

Shelton would spend more than a year in county lockup, despite his efforts and intention to plead guilty to the charge. Shelton first fought for bail to be set in his case, which the court initially declined to do without a "stable" home address. When it was eventually set, though, Shelton couldn't come up with the cash to post bond.

Though Shelton readily admitted the substance he was found with was marijuana, his case continued to be delayed by a massive backlog of drug tests at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.

More: Justice delayed: Forensic scientists face crushing backlog that clogs judicial system

An 81-page court file outlines the legal black hole Shelton was caught in. Desperate to move his case forward and leave jail, he wrote multiple letters to court clerks, attorneys and judges, pleading for information.

"I'd rather not waste the court's time and money when I know I'm guilty. I'd like to have a day in court, to get back to my life," Shelton wrote in one letter. "Could you help me do something to end my time in jail. I'll do my time and be responsible for what I've done. Just tell me what am I to do. PLEASE RESPOND."

"I seek my day in court," Shelton wrote in another. "I've never in my life feel so totally helpless, with no end."

More than a year later, Shelton was able to plead guilty. SPLC and Appleseed's report estimates Montgomery County spent more than $20,000 to jail Shelton for 15 months, despite his intentions to plead guilty to the charge from the start.

"Right now, in my life, because of that 15 months, I feel as though I'm 10 years behind where I'm supposed to be," he told researchers.

The "War on Marijuana" report recommends broad reform of Alabama's marijuana laws, including legalizing the possession and personal use of marijuana use by adults. But short of legalization, the report recommends reclassifying possession as a civil offense, eliminating fines and fees for possession offenses, and mandating the collection and publication of stop and arrest data by race.

Though legalization may be a long shot in a deep-red state such as Alabama, there has been a showing of bipartisan support on drug penalty legislation in recent years. This year, the Senate judiciary committee approved a bill sponsored by Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Pike Road, that would make possession of an ounce or less subject to a fine rather than jail time. The bill would have also altered punishments for possession of higher amounts.

The Senate ultimately did not take up the bill for a vote, but Brewbaker told the committee that easing punishments for marijuana was broadly popular, even among likely Republican voters.

“They don’t want to see with very small amounts, lives ruined by that, and they also said they want the law to be absolute death on those who sell drugs,” Brewbaker said.