-Caveat Lector- You know the old saying: Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts, absolutely! On 23 Jul 99, at 14:22, Zombie Cow wrote: > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Fri, 23 Jul 1999 00:27:07 -0600 > From: JIM MEISINGER <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: Janet Lee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Asset forfeitures - piracy > > Are asset forfeitures penalty -- or piracy? > By Frank J. Murray > THE WASHINGTON TIMES > > [Editors Note: This is a law that should be repealed immediately!] > > > Cops and prosecutors call it punishing the crooks when and where > they'll feel it most. > > Lots of other people, honest and law-abiding, call it police piracy. > > What they're talking about is assets forfeiture, and the practice has left > so many horror stories in its wake that dedicated anti-crime lawmakers, > Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, are joining a > growing movement to clean up the official abuses. > > Most forfeitures -- by which the government seizes property that > officers merely suspect was used in a crime or bought with the loot > --never reach the point of criminal charges. Up to 80 percent never > go to court. > > Seized properties range from a doctor's savings to a private prison > in Louisiana with all 400 inmates, a Houston hotel, a 4,346-acre > Florida ranch, a church's Spanish-language radio station and > Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss' $550,000 Beverly Hills mansion. > > Rep. Henry J. Hyde of Illinois, chairman of the House Judiciary > Committee, a Republican and a conservative, cited these and other > abuses in his testimony to a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on > criminal justice and oversight in behalf of modifying a 1974 law. > > Mr. Hyde told the senators it's difficult for him to accept that a law > that permits and in fact encourages violations of the rights of innocent > citizens could go unchallenged. He entreated the senators to accept the > tough reform legislation he steered to overwhelming bipartisan acceptance > in the House last month. > > The attentive subcommittee members agreed with Mr. Hyde's > contention the law needs reforming. But they seemed to agree with > Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and other witnesses > who testified yesterday that Mr. Hyde's reforms would cripple the > cops. > > The law was designed as a weapon in the war on drugs to collect > fancy cars, yachts, airplanes, houses and huge caches of cash. An > owner trying to get back property must prove his innocence > instead of the government proving guilt, which to many Americans > seems to turn the constitutional guarantee of due process on its > head. Fewer than 2,500 of the 30,000 property seizures each year > are even challenged in court. > > When the more common civil seizures are challenged, courts > routinely acknowledge that constitutional "due process" clauses > forbid inordinate delay and demand advance notice and a hearing, > except when immediate or "exigent" circumstances apply. This > usually means taking on faith the word of the prosecutors. > > A few such seizures have been overturned on "due process" > grounds, but, more commonly, appeals courts accept a > government claim of emergency or rule prosecutors' omissions > aren't serious enough to require returning seized property. > > On other constitutional grounds federal courts have ruled: > > Forfeiture is not "double jeopardy" because it is not > > "punishment." The Supreme Court said in a different > > case, however, that seizures of property out of > > proportion to the offense violate Eighth Amendment > > guarantees against "excessive fines [or] punishment." > > The Sixth Amendment right to counsel does not bar > > seizure of an attorney fee. > > The Fifth Amendment right to compensation for > > "takings" doesn't require paying interest when property > > wrongfully seized is returned after a long court fight. > > A search and seizure that violates the Fourth > > Amendment on criminal matters doesn't negate civil > > seizure of criminal profits. > > The Hyde legislation, passed overwhelmingly by the House, would > drastically shift the balance by requiring return of property without the > victim's having to post a bond, appoint lawyers for those who can't pay > and place the burden of proof on the government. > > The Justice Department concedes it should accept the burden of > proof if the law is rewritten, but the department doesn't want the > law touched because it will make the job of Justice Department > lawyers more difficult. > > Critics of the present system say it is rife with conflicts of interest, > > including millions of dollars in rewards for tipsters, and gives local and > federal officials a motive to split property among themselves. > > The value of 24,903 seized assets now held by the federal > government exceeds $1 billion, including $349 million in cash. > State and local seizures often wind up in federal hands to be > divvied up with local officials. > > The Kafka-like stories that impressed the House came from such > unlikely people as Nashville gardener Willie Jones, a Malibu > millionaire named Donald Scott, and Detroit housewife Tina > Bennis: > > Mrs. Bennis lost title to her 1977 Pontiac, a $300 > > clunker, seized in Detroit when her husband patronized a > > prostitute on his way home from work. Michigan law > > that condemns the location of such offenses as "public > > nuisances" was upheld by the Supreme Court. > > Mr. Scott was mistakenly shot to death in his California > > home by 30 state and federal agents during a futile > > search for marijuana plants in a raid that investigators > > later concluded was motivated by the goal of > > confiscating his ranch. > > Mr. Jones, 50, who has become the leading poster child > > for the anti-forfeiture cause, lost $9,600 to police at the > > Nashville airport after he paid cash for a round-trip > > ticket to Houston and found himself "profiled." He > > testified he carried the suspicious cash because he could > > make better deals for his landscaping business with cash > > payments. Police dogs sniffed traces of cocaine on the > > money. No surprise, says one police expert, because > > traces of cocaine are on 97 percent of all U.S. currency. > > Federal Judge Thomas Wiseman denounced the Jones episode as > "a forfeiture proceeding started in bad faith with wild allegations > based on the hope that something would turn up to justify the > suit." He ordered Mr. Jones' money returned. > > Roger Pilon, vice president for legal affairs and chief opponent of > forfeiture at the libertarian Cato Institute, agrees. "You can't use > the thumbscrew and the rack, no matter how worthy your aims > are," he says. "Prosecutors have this simple-minded view that > you're either guilty or not guilty." > > Rep. Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas Republican, a Hyde ally on > impeachment, is a former U.S. district attorney in Arkansas. He > has put away a lot of bad guys. He led the fight to make the Hyde > bill less restrictive of the behavior of cops and prosecutors, but Mr. > Hyde's side won by a vote of 375 to 48. > > "I believe it tilts too far against law enforcement and takes away > one of their most valuable tools in fighting drug traffic," Mr. > Hutchinson says, professing anguish over opposing Mr. Hyde. > > "This was such a gut issue for him it really made it difficult for > anyone to go against him. It made it difficult for me. But it's a gut > issue for me, too. I am for the reform, it's just you've got to have > balance. You don't want to hurt our legitimate crime-fighting efforts in > the process." > > Mr. Hyde's co-sponsors are an unusual array of bedfellows: the > committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. John Conyers Jr. of > Michigan; Rep. Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts; and > Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia, a Republican and a former U.S. > attorney. On the other side are New York Mayor Rudolph W. > Giuliani, a Republican, for seizure of drunk drivers' cars, and San > Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, a Democrat, who backs taking the > cars of those arrested -- though not necessarily convicted -- for > soliciting drugs or prostitutes. > > Many incidents cited by Mr. Hyde, including the Nashville > gardener's ordeal, are credited to a 10-month investigation by > Scripps Howard News Service. Since then, the Orlando Sentinel > won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing a Daytona Beach sheriff who > policed Interstate 95 so aggressively that Florida rewrote its > forfeiture law. > > The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette found that authorities in Ouachita > County in southern Arkansas had offered drug runners freedom in > exchange for land, cash or fancy cars worth thousands of dollars. > In another Arkansas county, the sheriff distributed seized cars to > his deputies and their families. Similar scandals sent Arkansas > prosecutor Dan Harmon to jail for 11 years for extortion and set > off a federal investigation. Somerset County, N.J., prosecutor > Nicholas L. Bissell Jr. killed himself in 1997 after conviction of > corruption for spending $1.5 million in seized money. > > The owners of a Red Carpet Motel in Houston pleaded with police > for months to deal aggressively with the drug traffic in and around > the motel. Federal authorities told the motel to raise its room rates to > discourage the activity, and when the motel owners declined, the feds > seized the motel. > > In ordering the government to return to Sam and Frank Lombardo > $506,641 found hidden at their Congress Pizzeria in Chicago, the > 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said, with judicial > understatement, "the government's conduct in forfeiture cases > leaves much to be desired." The three-judge panel said: > "Government may not seize money, even half a million dollars, > based on its bare assumption that most people do not have huge > sums of money lying about, and if they do, they must be involved > in narcotics trafficking or some other sinister activity." > > Prosecutors and members of Congress agree that Mr. Hyde's long > campaign to rein in forfeiture programs was helped this year by > "increasing public clamor" over scandals involving seized assets > and deal-making with accused criminals who surrender property to > escape prosecution. > > "It's wrong to deal away a prosecution in exchange for a > forfeiture," a Justice Department official says. Such scandals > undermine public opinion for a key prosecutorial weapon, a point > seconded by Rep. Ed Bryant, Tennessee Republican and a former > U.S. attorney who voted against Mr. Hyde's bill. "A lot of the bad > rap are cases that come from the state forfeiture laws," Mr. Bryant > says in an interview, citing federal prosecutors' objections to the > bill. > > "We're all kind of torn between the property-rights issue, and the > other side of the coin, which is the law-enforcement need." > > Drugs and airplanes mix so often that authorities often assume the > worst, as they did with Las Vegas charter pilot Billy Munnerlyn, > whose plane was confiscated when he landed at Ontario, Calif., > with a paying passenger who boarded at Little Rock, Ark. The > passenger, one Albert Wright, turned out to be a convicted cocaine > dealer with $2.7 million in his carry-on luggage. DEA agents > seized the money, the men and the airplane. > > No one ever was charged, and officials concluded that Mr. > Munnerlyn knew nothing about the contraband cash. Several years > later, the House Judiciary Committee noted, Mr. Munnerlyn is > bankrupt and working as a truck driver. Critics of forfeiture abuse > cite the Munnerlyn case as zealotry run amok, and note that > government lawyers have never seized a Delta Air Lines Boeing > 747 or a United Air Lines Boeing 777, even though drug dealers > often use commercial airlines for their travel. > > In Lancaster, Pa., the Rev. Roberto Figueroa saw his Spanish- > language broadcast station "Radio Vida" hauled away from a > Pentecostal church because the station's FM signal, limited by law > to 1,000 feet, was heard 20 miles away. > > Such citations of abuse irritate police and prosecutors, who argue > that these are isolated cases and Congress and state legislatures are > being steamrollered to rescind a key weapon against the most elusive > criminals. > > "I have never been so inundated . . . on any issue as much as in > opposition to [this bill] than by those in the law-enforcement > community," says Rep. John L. Mica, Florida Republican, who > chairs a subcommittee on criminal justice. > > The Justice Department vigorously disputes the measure in a > written policy statement, saying the bill "fails to address the most > pressing needs of victims and law-enforcement." > > Setting a tougher standard of proof for the government will "give > drug dealers more protection than bankers, doctors and defense > contractors," the government statement says. > > Not so, says the Cato Institute's Mr. Pilon. "This [Hyde] bill will > not prevent law enforcement from pursuing those forfeitures that > are legitimate. What it will prevent is the forfeitures that should > never take place in the first place, especially those seizures of > property from innocent people simply because the property may or > may not have been 'involved' in a crime." > > > > > -> Send "subscribe iufo " to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -> Posted by: Zombie Cow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Steve Wingate California Director SKYWATCH INTERNATIONAL Anomalous Images and UFO Files http://www.anomalous-images.com DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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