https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/washington-high-court-strikes-down-law-that-makes-unintentional-possession-of-drugs-a-crime/A divided Washington Supreme Court has struck down as unconstitutional a longstanding law that made it a felony to possess illegal drugs even if you didn’t know you had them.
The court used the 2016 arrest of a Spokane woman, Shannon Blake, to revisit Washington’s “strict-liability” drug possession law, which the Legislature adopted in the 1950s. The court has reviewed and upheld that law, often referred to as “simple possession,” at least twice since then. It concluded both times that the Legislature intended to make any illegal drug possession a felony, regardless of the suspect’s knowledge or intent.
On Thursday, a majority of the justices decided that the “strict-liability” standard is unconstitutional. They said the harsh penalties and stigma that come with a felony conviction violate due-process guarantees in instances where the individual’s possession of the drugs sprang from unintentional or “innocent, passive conduct.”
“This is a huge ruling that is going to involve thousands and thousands of cases,” said Mark Middaugh, who represented the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in a friend-of-the-court brief.
Middaugh believes the ruling can be applied retroactively, and that anyone convicted of simple possession of drugs will have a chance at having their conviction thrown out.
“This law has been applied in a racially discriminatory manner for years, and used as a fallback charge that has opened the door to other investigations,” he said.
The court’s decision had immediate effect: The Seattle Police Department announced Thursday that its officers would no longer detain or arrest people, or confiscate drugs, solely under the simple possession law.
uhmm...
