Deschutes DA-elect makes decision on prosecuting pot

Deschutes County District Attorney-Elect John Hummel said Tuesday marijuana-related crimes will be prosecuted on a case-by-case basis once he takes office in January.

Since voters legalized the recreational use of marijuana in November, county prosecutors around the state have been faced with whether to prosecute those crimes that will become legal in July.

Hummel told NewsChannel 21 he made the decision Monday after consulting with deputy district attorneys. He said the nature of charges will determine if offenders will go to court.

“We will have to look at the suspect’s criminal record. Have they done this before? Were children involved? How large was the quantity? Was there resisting arrest? Was it a particularly violent encounter that led to the confiscation of the drugs? There’s a lot of factors that go into it,” Hummel said.

District attorneys around the state have been split on the issue. Some have said they will continuing prosecuting minor marijuana charges until July, others have chosen to drop those cases.

Hummel said he’s not sure in there will be any minor marijuana charges between now and July, as those are already pretty rare. He added that any charges involving large quantities of marijuana or involving the sale of the drug still will be prosecuted.