ALBANY – Possession of a little more than one ounce of marijuana by a prison inmate can constitute a felony, an upstate appeals panel has ruled, clarifying a decision last year by the state’s highest court which held that mere possession of small quantities of the drug merits only a misdemeanor charge.
The state Court of Appeals’ ruling in People v. Finley, 10 NY3d 658 (2008), “left open the question of whether illegal quantities of marijuana could be deemed dangerous contraband,” the Appellate Division, Third Department, observed in People v. Cooper, 101862.
