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December 18, 2020
Two Middle Eastern men were driving through Pennsylvania on their way from Brooklyn to Tennessee. Their vehicle was stopped by the Pennsylvania State Police. According to Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan news service affiliated with The Philadelphia Inquirer, during the traffic stop the state trooper asked if either man was carrying a large sum of cash.
The men said yes, explaining that they had $10,000
because they were worried about their car breaking down and wanted cash for
repairs. They told the trooper whatever money was left would be used for one of
the men to travel to Egypt.
After getting consent to search the vehicle, the
police found nothing. Regardless, the state police took the $10,000. The money
was later tested and found to have “high levels of PCP.”
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office concluded
the cash was “used to buy or sell drugs through an unknown drug-trafficking
ring.” Neither man was charged with a crime or even cited for a traffic
violation. However, because the men did not contest the civil forfeiture of the
cash, the state kept it.
This form of government-sanctioned theft is not
unique to Pennsylvania - although Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has requested
the state’s Office of Inspector General conduct a review of whether
Pennsylvania State Police troopers are following the law when initiating
traffic stops and then searching vehicles.
This week, the Institute for Justice released the
third edition of “Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeitures.”
With data from 45 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government,
the report reveals that civil asset forfeitures are a massive nationwide
problem. According to the report, states and the federal government have
forfeited at least $68.8 billion, in the last 20 years.
That is probably why, according to a Cato
Institute/YouGov Survey, 84% of Americans oppose civil asset forfeitures. Only
one in six people think police ought to be allowed to seize property before a
person is convicted.
How can the assets of a person not convicted of a
crime be forfeited to the government?
Forfeiture cases are brought against the property,
meaning prosecutors file suit against items like cash, cars or homes. According
to Spotlight PA, the courts then require the owners to prove they have the legal
basis to challenge the state and then argue to get their property back. Since
the process is handled in civil court, people seeking to get their money back
are not entitled to a court-appointed attorney.
In 2019, the U.S Supreme made a ruling that many
thought would kick the legs out from under civil asset forfeiture. An Indiana
man was convicted of drug trafficking. The police seized his recently purchased
Land Rover SUV. He purchased the SUV with the proceeds of his late father’s
life insurance.
The vehicle was worth $42,000. His fine was $10,000.
The trial judge said the forfeiture was, pursuant to the Eighth Amendment,
excessive and disproportionate to the offense. The Supreme Court agreed.
In spite of the Supreme Court’s ruling, civil asset
forfeitures continue. There is tremendous incentive for police to grab assets.
In most states, police and prosecutors have complete access to those funds for
any “law enforcement” purpose they can dream up.
The Institute of Justice report also revealed that
forfeitures rarely target big-time criminals. Nearly half of all currency
forfeitures are “worth less than $1,300.” The data reflects that the police are
not taking the assets of kingpins, but rather small-time offenders who can’t
afford to hire an attorney and who simply walk away from their property.
Lisa Knepper, a research director with the Institute
of Justice, put it best, “Most laws still stack the deck against property
owners and give law enforcement perverse financial incentives to pursue
property over justice.”
Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg,
Garbett, Kelly & George P.C. His book “The Executioner’s Toll, 2010” was
released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him
on Twitter at @MatthewTMangino.
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