With recreational marijuana being approved for adult sale at dispensaries all over the state last week, lots of changes are coming our way. And a lot of changes are coming for our elected officials in particular.
Wesley Bell, St. Louis County Prosecutor, tells KMOX that it hasn't been too bad for his office. He said his office was out in front of the issue, and in anticipation of legalization, they chose not to prioritize prosecution of recreational marijuana cases.
"So from our office, it's not a sea change, if you will," he said. "There are some things that law enforcement has to adjust. We're working with law enforcement with respect to those issues and concerns. And this is a very long amendment. And so there's a lot to get through."
Adding onto that notion, Bell pointed out that the amendment is a complicated one, and that it will take a while for all the relevant records to be expunged.
"It is a big task to expunge all of these cases. And so even though the courts will do their best to be in compliance, I do not see any way that the courts will be able to expunge all of those cases by those days," he said. "And so that's why I want people to be more realistic, to temper their expectations with respect to things that are rolling out in this bill."
Bell said the reason his office focused on marijuana expungements was a practical one — getting people's records expunged allows them to get jobs, and they're less likely to reoffend, which lowers crime rates, he explained. But it's not just that.
"I think it's just the right thing to do. We want to help people get back on track," he said. "A woman sent a letter to my office a couple of weeks ago from when I was a municipal court prosecutor thanking me for working with her on just some traffic matters that were just that were preventing her from getting on with her life, because she was constantly concerned about warrants. And these are all just traffic things. And we got to help."
He added, "I think it's important to help folks get this stuff cleared up. So they can move on with their life, they can get jobs, they don't have to worry about being arrested on their way to work for a stop sign or something like that."
Bell also touched on the execution of Raheem Taylor, which was carried out on Tuesday despite protest from advocacy groups. Bell said that while he didn't believe the death penalty was the right course of action — and is against the practice in general — there wasn't enough legal basis to stop it in this case.
"At this late in the game when appeals are exhausted, there are only a few things that courts are going to look at: new evidence, new science, or evidence of actual evidence," he said. "And in this case, we did not have that."
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