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The Looting
of America How over 200 Civil Asset
Forfeiture laws enable police to confiscate your home, bank accounts &
business without trial. by Jarret Wollstein Revised May 1997 A police dog scratched at your luggage, so we're confiscating your life
savings and you'll never get it back.' Police stopped 49-year-old Ethel Hylton
at Houston's Hobby Airport and told her she was under arrest because a drug dog
had scratched at her luggage. Agents searched her bags and strip-searched her,
but they found no drugs. They did find $39,110 in cash, money she had received
from an insurance settlement and her life savings; accumulated through over 20
years of work as a hotel housekeeper and hospital janitor. Ethel Hylton
completely documented where she got the money and was never charged with a
crime. But the police kept her money anyway. Nearly four years later, she is
still trying to get her money back. Ethel Hylton is just one of a large and growing list of Americans - now
numbering in the hundreds of thousands - who have been victimized by civil asset
forfeiture. Under civil asset forfeiture, every-thing you own can be legally
taken away even if you are never convicted of a crime. Suspicion of offenses which, if proven in court, might result in a $200 fine
or probation, are being used to justify seizure of tens or even hundreds of
thousands of dollars worth of property. Totally innocent Americans are losing
their cars, homes and businesses, based on the claims of anonymous informants
that illegal transactions took place on their property. Once property is seized,
it is virtually impossible to get it back. Property is now being seized in every state and from every social group.
Seizures include pocket money confiscated from public-housing residents in
Florida; cars taken away from men suspected of soliciting prostitutes in Oregon;
and homes taken away from ordinary, middle class Americans whose teenage
children are accused of selling a few joints of marijuana. No person and no
property is immune from seizure. You could be the next victim. Here are some
examples: The incentive for government agencies to expand forfeiture is enormous.
Agencies can easily seize property and they usually keep what they take.
According to the Pittsburgh Press, 80% of seizure victims are never even charged
with a crime. Law enforcement agencies often keep the best seized cars, watches
and TVs for their "departments", and sell the rest. How extensive are seizures in America today? The Washington Post has reported
that the U.S. Marshals Service alone had an inventory of over $1.4 billion in
seized assets, including over 30,000 cars, boats, homes and businesses. Federal
and state agencies seizing property now include the FBI, the DEA, the U.S.
Marshals Service, the Coast Guard, the IRS, local police, highway patrol, the
Department of Housing and Urban Development, FDA, and the Bureau of Land
Management. Asset forfeiture is a growth industry. Seizures have increased from
$27 million in 1986, to over $644 million in 1991 to over $2 billion today. Civil asset forfeiture defines a new standard of justice in America; or more
precisely, a new standard of injustice. Under civil seizure, property, not an
individual is charged with an offense. Even if you are a totally innocent owner,
the government can still confiscate your ''guilty'' property. If government agents seize your property under civil asset forfeiture, you
can forget about being innocent until proven guilty, due process of law, the
right to an attorney, or even the right to trial. All of those rights only exist
if you are charged with a criminal offense; that is, with an offense which could
result in your imprisonment. If you (or your property) are accused of a civil
offense (offenses which could not result in your imprisonment), the Supreme
Count has ruled that you have no presumption of innocence, no right to an
attorney, and no protection from double jeopardy. Seizure occurs when government takes away your property. Forfeiture is when
legal title is permanently transferred to the state. To get seized property
returned, you have to fight the full resources of your state or federal
government; sometimes both! You have to prove your property's
"innocence" by documenting how you earned every cent used to pay for
it. You have to prove that neither you nor any of your family members ever
committed an illegal act involving the property. To get a trial, you have to post a non-refundable "bond" of 10% of
the value of your property. You have to pay attorney fees - ranging from $5,000
to over $100,000 - out of your own pocket. Money you pay your attorney is also
subject to seizure (either before or after the trial) if the government alleges
that those funds were "tainted". And you may be forced to go through
trial after trial, because under civil seizure the Constitutional protection
against "double jeopardy" doesn't apply. Once your property is seized,
expect to spend years fighting government agencies and expect to be impoverished
by legal fees - with no guarantee of winning - while the government keeps your
car, home and bank account. In fact, in a recent Supreme Court decision (Bennis v. Michigan), the Court
said explicitly that innocent owners can be deprived of their property if it's
used to facilitate a crime, even without the owner's knowledge or consent. That
means you can now lose your home or business because of the action of employees,
relatives, or guests, over whom you have absolutely no control. Police and prosecutors have incentive to confiscate as much as possible. Not only do police and prosecutors have the power to seize anything you own
on the slightest pretext, they also have the incentive. The dirty little secret
of the forfeiture racket is that police, prosecutors and judges can benefit
personally by stealing your property. Brenda Grantland - America's leading asset forfeiture defense attorney -
gives these examples of government greed in her book Your House Is Under Arrest: But that's just the tip of the iceberg. The head of one Los Angeles police
forfeiture squad claims his group personally pocketed over $60 million in seized
property. Why do our courts tolerate these outrageous legalized thefts? Because they
get their cut. It's completely legal for confiscated property to be used by
police, prosecutors and judges, so long as it's for official business. In 1996,
a federal district court even ruled that police can personally receive 25% of
the value of any confiscated home, car, or business. Some police will kill you for your property In Malibu, California, park police tried repeatedly to buy the home and land
of 61-year-old, retired rancher Don Scott, which was next to national parkland.
Scott refused. On the morning of October 2, 1992, a task force of 26 LA county
sheriffs, DEA agents and other cops broke into Scott's living room. When he
heard his wife, Frances, scream, he came out of his upstairs bedroom with a gun
over his head. Police yelled at him to lower his gun. He did, and they shot him
dead. Police claimed to be searching for marijuana which they never found. Ventura
County DA Michael Bradbury concluded that the raid was "motivated at least
in part, by a desire to seize and forfeit the ranch for the government . . .
[The] search warrant became Donald Scott's death warrant." Mr. Tom Gordon (Interim Director) Forfeiture Endangers American Rights (FEAR)
P.O. Box 15421, Washington, DC 20003 Tel: 1-888-FEAR-001 e-mail: tgordon@tmn.com
Website: http://www.fear.org International Society for Individual Liberty: |
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