Cass County man becomes 1st person jailed in Missouri to have marijuana-related conviction expunged

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Adam Mace grew to become the primary individual imprisoned in Missouri to have a marijuana-related conviction expunged underneath Modification 3, a constitutional modification voters handed in November.

A Cass County decide dominated in Mace’s favor Thursday, which implies he will probably be a free man in a matter of days.

Mace was serving the third yr of a five-year sentence for possessing greater than 35 grams of hashish. He was arrested for possession when he was 18 years previous.

Nevertheless, Mace’s case was difficult by time he was serving for one more cost. In 2010, he was convicted of first-degree involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 13 years in jail.

Mace was 19 when he crashed into one other automobile on Missouri 291 close to Harrisonville and killed 44-year-old Denise Lero Greene. He was allegedly driving whereas intoxicated.

The manslaughter conviction meant he violated his probation within the marijuana-possession case and must serve 5 years in jail.

After ending 85% of the manslaughter sentence, Mace began serving his drug-conviction sentence, though the hashish case occurred first.

Justice Ortiz, Mace’s public defender, beforehand stated he believed the manslaughter cost wouldn’t affect the decide’s resolution.

“It should not, as a result of these are two separate instances,” Ortiz stated in a Jan. 10 interview with KSHB 41 Information. “The marijuana modification is fairly clear on what must occur and it would not go away quite a lot of wiggle room, so he needs to be launched in addition to have his (marijuana-related) case expunged.”

When the KSHB 41 I-Workforce spoke to Mace final week, he stated he was prepared to maneuver ahead positively exterior of jail, hopeful to atone for all that he is missed.

“Oh man, it is astronomical,” Mace stated. “I might begin crying proper now desirous about it, to be trustworthy. I believe I am prepared — I can let you know that.”

Mace’s ruling will set the trail for expungements all through the state.

RELATED | Marijuana is authorized in Missouri — Now what?

Possession of a restricted quantity of leisure marijuana is now authorized in Missouri, although its retail sale isn’t allowed fairly but, after voters handed a constitutional modification to legalize weed.

Beneath the brand new regulation, many individuals with a marijuana-possession conviction can petition to have a decide expunge their conviction, which might set off an early launch from a jail sentence or termination of probation and different court-ordered providers.

A number of cities — together with Kansas Metropolis, Missouri — are placing sales-tax points on the April poll, asking voters to approve new taxes on marijuana purchases.

Missouri voters handed medical marijuana in 2018 although an analogous constitutional-amendment course of.

KSHB 41 Information Digital In-Depth Reporter Tod Palmer contributed to this report.