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Because the Presence of THC Can Be Detected Long After Marijuana Use, the People Were Not Able to Prove Defendant Used Marijuana During a One-Week Furlough

The Third Department determined that the People did not prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant used marijuana when he was on furlough, thereby justifying an enhanced sentence.  THC can be detected long after marijuana-use.  The proof therefore did not establish the defendant used it during a one-week furlough:

…[W]e find merit in defendant’s argument, preserved by objection at sentencing …, that the People failed to establish at the enhancement hearing that he violated a condition of his furlough, as the proof did not demonstrate when he used marihuana, i.e., that it occurred during, rather than prior to, his furlough. When the court granted defendant a one-week furlough, it warned him that it would enhance his prison sentence to 4½ years if he were “charged with any criminal conduct” or “arrested for any reason” and that, “[w]hile you are out, if you engage in the use of any illegal drugs or alcohol and I find out about it” (emphasis added), the enhanced sentence would be imposed. At the hearing, while the investigator testified that defendant’s test was positive for THC, he was not able to estimate the date when defendant used marihuana, and conceded that it could have been months earlier; he also recounted that defendant stated, after being told of the positive test result, that “he had been smoking in the jail prior to his furlough” (emphasis added). Moreover, the reference guide for the test, which was admitted into evidence at the hearing, indicates that “[m]any factors influence the length of time required for drugs to be metabolized and excreted in the urine” and that the “general time” established for cannabinoids with “chronic use” is “less than 30 days typical.”… Defendant admitted to previously being a daily, heavy user of marihuana, and testified that he did not use marihuana during his furlough.

Given the foregoing, we find that the People did not prove by a preponderance of the evidence … and the court did not have a “legitimate basis” for concluding — that defendant used marihuana during his furlough… . People v Criscitello, 2014 NY Slip OP 08678, 3rd Dept 12-11-14

 

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