When I first started running for Congress, I was thinking about the ability to make laws as state attorney, we're the executive branch of the governm… - Aramis Ayala

Brown came to New York from Jamaica as a teenager in 1993,” her office said in a statement this morning. “He received Lawful Permanent Resident (Green Card) status upon entering the United States with an immigrant visa based on a family petition filed by his mother.

Although there was another worker present and Brown never confessed to possessing the marijuana, he was arrested and initially charged with Possession of Cannabis with Intent to Sell.

Over the years, the Legislature has increased maximum sentence lengths, added habitual offender sentencing enhancements and imposed mandatory minimum sentences for a variety of offenses, including those involving controlled substances like marijuana,” Ayala said in a statement. “While this strategy may sound appealing to some, it has not proven to be effective at reducing crime or preventing those who have committed crimes from offending again. What it has done, is cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars at a time when budgets are already stretched thin.”