FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida. – A Florida prosecutor says he will seek to overturn up to 2,600 convictions of people who bought crack cocaine manufactured by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office for undercover operations between 1988 and 1990.

The Florida Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that people could not be charged in cases where the sheriff’s office manufactured crack cocaine and undercover agents then sold it to buyers who were arrested and charged.

Broward County District Attorney Harold F. Pryor said Friday that as his office reviewed old cases, prosecutors realized that many people may still have criminal charges or convictions on their records due to of the undercover operation.

“It’s never too late to do the right thing,” Pryor said in a statement.

This is just one example of how the crack epidemic of the 1980s and early 1990s led to harsh policing practices and harsh criminal penalties.

Some people may have been convicted of serious crimes because they bought drugs within 300 meters of a school. Sentencing under this law at the time required defendants to be sentenced to at least three years in prison.

“They were arresting people not for selling, but for buying,” Ed Hoeg, a defense attorney, said in court. Fort Lauderdale Solar Sentinel. At the time, Hoeg was a public defender who represented Leon Williams, whose appeal led the state Supreme Court to ban the practice.

“They had detention officers posing as drug dealers,” Hoeg said. “They were selling it, and these poor addicts were buying it. And they were selling it within 1,000 feet of schools, so the penalties would be higher.

The sheriff’s office said at the time that he began manufacturing crack because he did not have enough seized drugs to use in his undercover operations and because he did not have need to later test crack cocaine made by a sheriff’s office pharmacist for cocaine content. .

“We find that the conduct of law enforcement here was so outrageous that it violated Florida’s Due Process Clause,” the state Supreme Court said. written in the decision.

Pryor said he informed Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony that Pryor would ask judges to overturn the convictions. Pryor said Tony supported the plan. Some defendants may also have the option to seal or expunge records, the prosecutor said.

The review will take “a considerable amount of time,” Mr. Pryor said. He said his office would contact people who may be affected.