What's more offensive is if you get caught with that pot in ny, it will essentially get dismissed as long as you have money and get a real lawyer, not a public

What's more offensive is if you get caught with that pot in ny, it will essentially get dismissed as long as you have money and get a real lawyer, not a public defender. Read this discussion of the so-called right to a speedy trial in nyc in practice: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/nyregion/justice-denied-for-misdemeanor-cases-trials-are-elusive.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/nyregion/justice-denied-fo... tl;dr: misdemeanor cases, despite your supposed right to a speedy trial, regularly drag out over years. If your lawyer understands how to work the system, misdemeanors appear to largely just go away because the court system is simply incapable of dealing with them within the bounds of the law.