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99 lines
7.1 KiB
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<xml><p>Paying For Your Innocence
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The Justice Department's Terwilliger says that in some cases "dumb
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judgement" may occasionally cause problems, but he believes there is an
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adequate solution. "That's why we have courts." But the notion that
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courts are a safeguard for citizens wrongly accused "is way off," says
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<ent type='PERSON'>Thomas Kerner</ent>, a forfeiture lawyer in <ent type='GPE'>Boston</ent>. "Compared to forfeiture,
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<ent type='PERSON'>David</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Goliath</ent> was a fair fight." Starting from the moment that
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the government serves notice that it intends to take an item, until any
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court challenge is completed, "the government gets all the breaks,"
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says <ent type='PERSON'>Kerner</ent>. The government need only show probable cause for a
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seizure, a standard no greater than what is needed to get a search
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warrant. The lower standard means the government can take a home without
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any more evidence than it normally needs to take a look inside.
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Clients who challenge the government, says attorney <ent type='PERSON'>Edward Hinson</ent> of
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<ent type='GPE'>Charlotte</ent>, N.C., "have the choice of fighting the full resources of the
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U.S. treasury or caving in."
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<ent type='PERSON'><ent type='PERSON'>Barry</ent> <ent type='ORG'>Kolin</ent></ent> caved in. <ent type='ORG'>Kolin</ent> watched <ent type='GPE'>Portland</ent>, Ore., police padlock
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the doors of Harvey's, his bar and restaurant for bookmaking on March 2.
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Earlier that day, eight police officers and <ent type='PERSON'>Amy Holmes Hehn</ent>, the
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<ent type='GPE'>Multnomah County</ent> deputy district attorney, had swept into the bar,
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shooed out waitresses and customers and arrested Mike <ent type='ORG'>Kolin</ent>, Barry's
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brother and bartender, on suspicion of bookmaking. Nothing in the
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police documents mentioned <ent type='PERSON'><ent type='PERSON'>Barry</ent> <ent type='ORG'>Kolin</ent></ent>, and so the 40-year-old was
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stunned when authorities took his business, saying they believe he knew
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about the betting. He denied it. <ent type='ORG'>Hehn</ent> concedes she did not have the
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evidence to press a criminal case against <ent type='PERSON'><ent type='PERSON'>Barry</ent> <ent type='ORG'>Kolin</ent></ent>, "so we seized
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the business civilly." During a recess in a hearing on the seizures
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weeks later, "the deputy DA says if I paid them $30000 I could open up
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again," <ent type='ORG'>Kolin</ent> recalls. When the deal dropped to $10000, <ent type='ORG'>Kolin</ent> took it.
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Kolin's lawyer, <ent type='PERSON'>Jenny Cooke</ent>, calls the seizure "extortion." She
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says: "There is no difference between what the police did to <ent type='PERSON'>Barry</ent>
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<ent type='ORG'>Kolin</ent> or what Al Capone did in <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> when he walked in and said, 'This
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is a nice little bar and it's mine.' the only difference is today they
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call this civil forfeiture.''
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Minor Crimes, Major Penalties
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Forfeiture's tremendous clout helps make it "one of the most effective
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tools that we have," says Terwilliger. The clout, though, puts
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property owners at risk of losing more under forfeiture that they would
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in a criminal case under the same circumstances. Criminal charges in
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federal and many state courts carry maximum sentences. But there's no
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dollar cap on forfeiture, leaving citizens open to punishment that far
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exceeds the crime.
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<ent type='PERSON'>Robert Brewer</ent> of <ent type='PERSON'>Irwin</ent>, <ent type='GPE'>Idaho</ent>, is dying of prostate cancer, and uses
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marijuana to ease the pain and nausea that comes with radiation
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treatments. Last Oct. 10, a dozen deputies and <ent type='GPE'>Idaho</ent> tax agents
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walked into the Brewer's living room with guns drawn and said they had a
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warrant to search. The <ent type='ORG'>Brewer</ent>s, Robert, 61, and <ent type='PERSON'>Bonita</ent>, 44, both
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retired form the postal service, moved from <ent type='GPE'>Kansas City</ent>, Mo., to the
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tranquil, wooded valley of <ent type='PERSON'>Irwin</ent> in 1989. Six months later, he was
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diagnosed. According to police reports, an informant told authorities
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<ent type='ORG'>Brewer</ent> ran a major marijuana operation. The drug <ent type='ORG'>SWAT</ent> team found
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eight plants in the basement under a grow light and a half-pound of
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marijuana. The <ent type='ORG'>Brewer</ent>s were charged with two felony narcotics counts and
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two charges for failing to buy state tax stamps for the dope. "I
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didn't like the idea of the marijuana, but it was the only thing that
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controlled his pain," Mrs. <ent type='ORG'>Brewer</ent> says. The government seized the
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couples five-year-old <ent type='ORG'>Ford</ent> van that allowed him to lie down during his
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twice-a-month trips for cancer treatment at a <ent type='GPE'>Salt Lake City</ent> hospital,
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270 miles away. Now they must go by car. "That's a long painful ride
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for him... He needed that van, and the government took it," Mrs. <ent type='ORG'>Brewer</ent>
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says. "It looks like they can punish people any way they see fit."
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The <ent type='ORG'>Brewer</ent>s know nothing about the informant who turned them in, but
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informants play a big role in forfeiture. Many of them are paid,
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targeting property in return for a cut of anything that is taken. The
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Justice Department's asset forfeiture fund paid $24 mil. to informants
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in 1990 and has $22 million allocated this year. Private citizens who
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snitch for a fee are everywhere. Some airline counter clerks receive
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cash awards for alerting drug agents to "suspicious" travellers. The
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practice netted <ent type='PERSON'>Melissa Furtner</ent>, a <ent type='ORG'>Continental Airlines</ent> clerk in <ent type='GPE'>Denver</ent>,
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at least $5800 between 1989 and 1990, photocopies of checks show.
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Increased surveillance, recruitment of citizen-cops, and expansion of
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forfeiture sweeps are all part of a take-now, litigate-later syndrome
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that builds prosecutors careers, says a former federal prosecutor.
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"Federal law enforcement people are the most ambitious I've ever met,
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and to get ahead they need visible results. Visible results are
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convictions, and, now, forfeitures," says <ent type='PERSON'>Don Lewis</ent> of <ent type='GPE'>Meadville</ent>,
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<ent type='GPE'>Crawford County</ent>. (ED: a Pa county north of <ent type='ORG'>Pgh</ent> by two counties.)
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<ent type='ORG'>Lewis</ent> spent 17 years as a prosecutor, serving as an assistant U.S.
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attorney in <ent type='GPE'>Tampa</ent> as recently as 1988. He left the <ent type='GPE'>Tampa</ent> Job -- and
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became a defense lawyer -- when "I found myself tempted to do things I
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wouldn't have thought about doing years ago." Terwilliger insists
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U.S. attorneys would never be evaluated on "something as unprofessional
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as dollars." Which is not to say Justice doesn't watch the bottom
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line. <ent type='PERSON'>Cary Copeland</ent>, director of the department' Executive Office for
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Asset Forfeiture, says they tried to "squeeze the pipeline" in 1990
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when the amount forfeited lagged behind Justice's budget projections.
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He said this was done by speeding up the process, not by doing "whole
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lot of seizures."</p>
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<p>--- Renegade v6-27 Beta
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</p>
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<p>* Origin: Shark's Mouth 313-658-1110 750 MEGS <ent type='PERSON'>Dual Amiga</ent>/<ent type='ORG'>IBM</ent> (23:313/108)</p></xml> |