Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jun 2005
Source: Columbia Missourian (MO)
Copyright: 2005 Columbia Missourian
Contact:  http://www.columbiamissourian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2282
Author: Ken Sweet

NEED FOR MARIJUANA DEFENSE FALLS

Columbia's pot law has reduced the need to hire a lawyer in some cases.

Marijuana use brings up issues of freedom and justice, but for
criminal-defense attorneys, marijuana users and offenders are part of their
business - or recent lack of business.

Several criminal-defense attorneys in Columbia said there has been a
decrease in business since the passage of the local marijuana ordinance law
in November.

The city prosecutor office's deferral program does not require the offender
to get a lawyer. That means the 387 people who have been busted with 35
grams or less of marijuana in the past six months did not hire an attorney.
Instead, they handled their charge on their own.

"You do not need a lawyer with this ordinance at all," said Dan Viets, a
Columbia criminal-defense lawyer and member of the Columbia Alliance for
Patients and Education whom sponsored the ordinance. "And that's not an easy
thing for a lawyer to say."

City Prosecutor Rose Wibbenmeyer said she heard lawyers charge from $250 to
$1,500 for a small-possession offense. At the minimum, lawyers have lost
about $96,000 in revenue since the passage of the law.

Viets said that he has been affected by the law financially but that the
ordinance is good for the public, not lawyers.

"I can tell you, I probably lost more business than any other defense
attorney in the city," Viets said. "Yes, there is less work for lawyers, but
they need to find other work. There's plenty of work for lawyers to do."

Viets would not say how much revenue he has lost by not representing
small-possession offenders, but he said it's been small.

Rusty Antel, another criminal-defense attorney in Columbia, said he also has
seen a drop in business since the law passed.

"It's pretty clear that I am not seeing as many people," Antel said. "For
most of us, it's probably a cut in business and cut in revenues, but it's
for the greater good. It's not destroying business."

The main goal of the ordinance passed in November was to write a "lowest
priority" prosecution rule regarding offenders caught with 35 grams or less
of marijuana. The result was a deferral program, created by Wibbenmeyer,
that keeps the offense from going to state court unless the offender is
caught again in a year.

Since the law was passed about six months ago, Wibbenmeyer said 387
offenders, or about two a day, have been placed on the deferral program,
with only 15 people violating the program.

"The deferral program seems to be working OK and has been a pretty good
success," Wibbenmeyer said.

Antel said the problem with the new city law was the lack of communication
about the deferral program to lawyers and offenders.

"The city isn't taking a proactive approach to communicating who is on the
deferral program," Antel said.

Wibbenmeyer said the simplicity of the program is its strength.

"We are not asking anything of the defendants except to stay out of trouble
for a year," Wibbenmeyer said.

Steven Gunn, assistant Boone County prosecuting attorney, said similar
agreements are made with other offenses on a case-by-case basis, mainly with
domestic violence. He said he did not know of any similar deferral
agreements for cases involving drug charges.

The Columbia Police Officers Association and the Columbia Alliance for
Patients and Education, have come together to try to compromise on the
ordinance. Although no drafts of the multiple ideas being considered are
available to the public, one compromise bothered Wibbenmeyer.

"In a draft I have seen, they take out all the language for the deferral
program," she said.

Viets said he supports the deferral program and the compromise and hopes to
see both the law and the program continue.

"These are people who, if they had been convicted in state court, would have
lost any eligibility for federal student aid," Viets said. "That's the main
goal of the program."

Viets said the compromise should be made available to the public in a matter
of weeks or a month and hopes to get it to the City Council soon after. 
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