Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

My daughter was not arrested in FL but was given a criminal report affidavit for possession of marijuana under 20 grams/paraphernalia . Her court date is 3-28-16. In FL tomorrow they are most likely passing a law to decriminalize under 20 grams of marijuana and receive a fine. It was first proposed and passed 6-1 and final vote is tomorrow for the new law ordinance. If this passes will it apply to her in her favor to receive the fine


Asked on 3/16/16, 2:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Eric Trabin Lucid Legal, PLLC

This is serious. First, even though she was not physically arrested, she was charged with a crime and therefore it counts as an arrest. Second, the counties that are "decriminalizing" marijuana are actually only making it discretionary for police to issue a non-criminal civil citation. So even once that passes, it will still be legal for the police to criminally charge people for marijuana.

Of course if it does pass the. Our daughter's lawyer will have a stronger argument to the prosecutor to reduce the charge to a civil infraction, but that depends a lot on the prosecutor and the lawyer your daughter has. Make sure you hire a good one.

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Answered on 3/16/16, 3:06 pm


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