Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor marched into a courtroom Friday to ask a judge to serve justice by clearing more than 40 convictions his office secured in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
One by one, Pryor named 42 defendants who had been caught up in sting operations by zealous investigators who manufactured crack cocaine and sold it, arresting the buyers at the end of the process. The Florida Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that those reverse-sting operations were illegal, but somehow the convictions remained on the records of an undetermined number of defendants.
As Pryor read off the names and case numbers, Broward Circuit Judge Andrew Siegel vacated their pleas, convictions and sentences. None of the affected defendants or their attorneys came to court to witness the official correction of the record. Some defendants have since passed away. Others may have had any number of reasons not to attend an event that would remind them of their past.
Pryor said he hoped the community would understand the need to clear their names as a matter of justice.
“People need to have faith that we’re going to do the right thing, even when it doesn’t look good for us,” Pryor said.
Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor asked Judge Andrew Siegel on Friday to clear the records of 42 people who were arrested in the late 1980s and early 1990s in reverse stings using crack cocaine that was manufactured by law enforcement. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The reverse stings comprised one of the uglier chapters in what was then called the War on Drugs, an effort derided by some critics for treating users as perpetrators rather than victims of the crack cocaine epidemic.
The convictions followed the defendants throughout their lives, hampering their ability to get jobs, housing and public assistance.
“It was illegal to manufacture crack cocaine,” Pryor said. “There was no exception carved out for law enforcement.”
Prosecutors and others in Pryor’s office volunteered their time to pore over 1,400 cases to identify the 42 defendants whose names were cleared Friday. The criteria were simple: if the case involved a batch of drugs manufactured by law enforcement, Pryor asked for the conviction to be overturned.
Once Siegel vacated the conviction and sentence on Friday, Pryor announced the dismissal of each case.
The job is not done, Pryor said afterward. There are still more than 1,400 cases awaiting review.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.
Judge Andrew Siegel listens on Friday as Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor asks the court to clear the records of 42 people who were arrested in the late 1980s and early 1990s in reverse stings using crack cocaine that was manufactured by law enforcement. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)