Federal Judge Ruling Releases Drug Prisoners In Bond Court
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – If you were in Miami-Dade bond court on cocaine charges Thursday morning, you got quite a reprieve.
Wednesday a Florida federal judge issued a ruling that said the state's controlled-substances laws are unconstitutional. As a result, all prisoners awaiting bond hearings on Thursday were released by the bond court judge in Miami-Dade County on their own recognizance.
The ruling, by U.S. Judge Mary S. Scriven, struck down the state's drug laws based on a 2002 change to the statute.
In 2002, the state legislature eliminated the "mens rea," or "guilty mind" requirement as a part of a drug offense. Scriven laid out a scenario that said if a student hid his cocaine in his friend's backpack without telling him, then the owner of the backpack is guilty even if he didn't know it was there.
Scriven said the 2002 Florida law is "repugnant to the common law."
The state is expected to appeal Scriven's decision, but until then it leaves thousands of drug cases in flux.
