OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — More than a dozen prisoners have been released from custody after the Washington Supreme Court voided the state’s drug possession law.
Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday he has commuted the sentences of 13 prisoners who were doing time for drug possession, with more commutations promised by his office.
The court ruled in February that the state law making simple drug possession a crime was unconstitutional because it did not require prosecutors to prove that the defendant knowingly possessed the drugs.
Lawmakers have been wrestling with how to respond to the ruling during the current legislative session, including with a proposal to legalize so called “personal” amounts of hard drugs.