More marijuana cases to be handled in municipal court, Jefferson City prosecutor says

Low-level marijuana offenses in Jefferson City will now have a higher likelihood of being handled by city clerks than the county court house, according to city prosecutor Gaylin Carver.

Carver told ABC 17 News Thursday that after conversations with Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson, certain misdemeanor drug possession and drug paraphernalia charges will be referred to the municipal court, instead of being handled on the county level.

“The impact of it on your actual criminal record will not be a huge difference,” said Carver. “They’re still considered misdemeanors, but a municipal violation just looks better.”

The aim, she said, is to ease the caseload that was burdening the county prosecutor’s office.

Carver also said she is working with the Council for Drug-Free Youth to launch a program similar to the Marijuana Awareness Program.

“If I give the defendant the option of taking this class, either as a condition of their sentence or as a deferred prosecution agreement, then at least the money that they’re paying is going to help other people,” said Carver.

This move comes as the city works to integrate the legal medical marijuana industry and as the Jefferson City Housing Authority voted to ban the drug, legal or otherwise, in all of its facilities.

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