King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn is issuing the following statement regarding the Washington Supreme Court’s Blake decision to decriminalize drug possession.
“I have very serious concerns about the potentially devastating and unintended consequences of the split ruling by the Supreme Court of Washington.
“Hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands and thousands, of violent offenders–murderers, rapists, child molesters–will now be released onto our streets earlier.
“In my review of the case as a former prosecutor, this ruling is retroactive because the law is described by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. This ruling will impact cases involving violent offenders, who will need to be re-sentenced because felony drug convictions now cannot count toward their offender score. Therefore, they will very likely receive a lower sentence.
“Additionally, every addict who is currently receiving support for their recovery through a Drug Court agreement across the state can now be booted from the program because their Drug Court contract has become null and void, as it is now based on an unconstitutional law.
“The Supreme Court found unconstitutional a law they have upheld twice before and which has been a long-standing law made by our policy branch of government–the Washington State Legislature. The unintended legal ramifications will result in great harm on communities across our state.”
