A South Florida prosecutor says he will seek to vacate as many as 2,600 convictions of people who bought crack cocaine manufactured by the Broward County Sheriff鈥檚 Office for sting operations between 1988 and 1990.
The Florida Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that people couldn鈥檛 be charged in cases where the sheriff鈥檚 office made the crack cocaine and undercover deputies then sold it to buyers who were arrested and charged.
Broward County State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said Friday that while his office was reviewing old records, prosecutors realized that many people may still have criminal charges or convictions on their records because of the sting operation.
鈥淚t is never too late to do the right thing,鈥� Pryor said in a statement.
It鈥檚 just one example of how the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and early 1990s led to harsh police practices and heavy criminal penalties.
Some people may have been convicted of serious felonies because they bought drugs within 1,000 feet (300 meters) of a school. Conviction under that law required at the time that defendants be sentenced to at least three years in prison.
鈥淭hey were arresting people not for selling, but for purchasing,鈥� Ed Hoeg, a defense lawyer, told the . At the time, Hoeg was a public defender who represented Leon Williams, whose appeal led to the state Supreme Court outlawing the practice.
鈥淭hey had detention deputies posing as dealers,鈥� Hoeg said. 鈥淭hey would sell it, and these poor people who were addicts were buying it. And they were selling it within 1,000 feet of schools, so the penalties would be greater.鈥�
The sheriff鈥檚 office said at the time that it began making crack because it didn鈥檛 have enough of the seized drug to use in its sting operations and because it didn鈥檛 have to later test the cocaine content of crack made by a sheriff鈥檚 office chemist.
鈥淲e find that the law enforcement鈥檚 conduct here was so outrageous as to violate Florida鈥檚 due process clause,鈥� the state Supreme Court .
Pryor said he notified Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony that Pryor would ask judges to vacate the convictions. Pryor said Tony supports the plan. Some defendants may also be able to seal or expunge the records, the prosecutor said.
The review will take 鈥渁 considerable amount of time,鈥� Pryor said. He said his office will contact people who may be affected.
