How Tarrant County Handles Drug Crimes

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https://www.MedlinFirm.com/ | (682) 204-4066 Criminal District Attorney Sharen Wilson radically changed how Tarrant County handles most drug crimes in the Fort Worth area. In November, 2019, the Criminal District Attorney's office said that "marijuana cases don't need to clog up the court system". How the Handling of Drug Cases Changed The office then announced that people charged with possession of less than two ounces of cannabis can get the charge discharged. This program does have limits. The misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession can be dismissed if the person has three clean drug tests in three months. This could dramatically reduce the number of drug cases sending people to jail. For example, there were nearly 4000 drug cases in 2019 alone, most of which are misdemeanors. In fact, misdemeanor marijuana possession was the top offense Tarrant County courts prosecuted in 2019. Note that this is separate from the Deferred Prosecution Program or DPP established in 2019. Those in the DPP are eligible for expunction of their record if they're between 17 and 24, haven't gone through the adjudication program before, and didn't commit any other crimes. For example, you can't get a drug charge dismissed in Fort Worth if it was a gang-related offense or committed multiple offenses. Why Is Tarrant County Making This Change? There were 3750 misdemeanor marijuana possession cases in Tarrant County in 2019. There were roughly three thousand felony cases of possession of controlled substances like LSD or meth. The third most common cases handled by Tarrant County courts were misdemeanor domestic violence / family violence. The district attorney has made domestic violence a much higher priority, and dropping most low-level drug crimes gives them more resources to deal with family violence. This probably won't change their handling of drunk driving cases. Tarrant County courts see roughly two thousand DUI and DWI cases a year. Note that the county is requiring repeat DUI defendants to go through a court supervised regimen of treatment and supervision. Yet the Felony Alcohol Intervention Program (FAIP) like the new program for drug crimes seeks to end the addiction rather than simply punish offenders. And this shift from punishment to treatment probably will not affect the two thousand or so cases of misdemeanor property theft Tarrant County deals with each year. Fort Worth Office The Medlin Law Firm 1300 S University Dr No. 318 Fort Worth, TX 76107 (682) 204-4066 https://www.medlinfirm.com/locations/fort-worth/ Dallas Office The Medlin Law Firm 2550 Pacific Ave No. 866 Dallas, TX 75226 (214) 888-4810 https://www.medlinfirm.com/locations/dallas/ Redeem Your Tokens