Civil Forfeiture

Supreme Court not looking favorably at civil asset forfeiture

Dec 9, 2018

http://www.phillytrib.com/n...49-a3ce429cddd4.html

I think civil forfeiture law is a state-by-state thing. Here in Florida, the police used to be notorious for stopping people on I-95 and basically robbing them. Since I-95 was a popular route for drug traffickers, the police had the perfect excuse. Florida state law was changed to alleviate the problem, but police can still take your cash.

https://www.jamesmadison.or...y-rights-in-florida/

Also, the Trump administration has made it easier for police to rob people execute civil asset forfeitures.

https://www.sun-sentinel.co...-20170719-story.html

That said, I hope the US Supreme Court comes down hard on this issue. The police have been "thieves with badges" for way too long. They need to be held to a higher standard. I just wish it could have been resolved on the state level, instead of requiring federal involvement.

[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 12-21-2018).]

Principles are important. It would be nice if our courts and law enforcement thought so.
Political opinion shouldnt matter when there is a bill of rights.

Civil forfeiture without a conviction is nothing short of obscene and a clear violation of the fifth amendment. It is a crime.

quote Originally posted by williegoat: Civil forfeiture without a conviction is nothing short of obscene and a clear violation of the fifth amendment. It is a crime.

So here is the deal with this. You have to go to a hearing to get your property or money back. As you would most likely be charged with a crime at the same time you also have a court appearance.
As the hearing will come up before your court appearance anything you say can be used against you. So depending on the charge your lawyer will advise you not to go the hearing.

I had $8000 on me going to look at a car in Florida and was puckered up the entire trip.
We had the ad printed out and had the withdraw slip and cash locked in the glove box not hidden.
But one stop could have cost us dearly.

Whenever Im about to get stopped by a cop for any reason, I have a micro voice recorder i turn on that runs for hours. Everything that I or cops say is recorded and they dont even have a clue. you can legally record anyone, especially a public official, in a public setting.

quote Originally posted by Blacktree: That said, I hope the US Supreme Court comes down hard on this issue. The police have been "thieves with badges" for way too long. They need to be held to a higher standard. I just wish it could have been resolved on the state level, instead of requiring federal involvement.

You had no hope for state laws to change because they get Many Millions by Civil Forfeiture. Most in not All Laws that have "change" this only perform a "smoke and mirror" trick to say they "Fix" the problem and keep doing same.

Worse you will still have 50 states w/ different laws covering same issue so One can take your money and next can't in the same settings so stopped driving w/ cash will still be a gamble at best.

SCOTUS can try to stop this but many states and others will find other ways to keep on doing same for years because too much money involved.
Like SCOTUS shot down WDC's gun permit rules but DC basically ignored them and still won't give permits to nearly all of the people there. (District of Columbia v. Heller) Other States since then have even tougher anti gun laws like NJ, NY and NYC. What's still legal in most of rest of NY is often not in NYC including NY CCW permits. If NJ Cops searches you driving thru the state and finds only One Hollow Point bullet then expect your going to jail even when you don't have a gun.

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More info, new vid from Jan 31 2019

In case anyone missed it, the US Supreme Court made a ruling. And as expected, it was not in favor of civil asset forfeiture.

https://slate.com/news-and-...tures-rbg-timbs.html

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I'm glad that this behavior is being curtailed. But on the other hand, I think it's sad that the federal gov't had to step in and make the state gov'ts behave. I'm all for states' rights, but when the states are abusing those rights, what else can you do?