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74 lines
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74 lines
4.3 KiB
XML
<xml><p>Ending the Abuse
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While defense lawyers talk of reforming the law, agencies that initiate
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forfeiture scarcely talk at all. // DEA headquarters makes a spectacle
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of busts like the seizure of fraternity houses at the University of
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Virginia in March. But it refuses to supply detailed information on the
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small cases that account for most of its activity. // Local prosecutors
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are just as tight-lipped. Thomas Corbett, U.S. Attorney for Western
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Pennsylvania, seals court documents on forfeitures because "there are
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just some things I don't want to publicize. the person whose assets we
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seize will eventually know, and who else has to?''
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Although some investigations need to be protected, there is an
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"inappropriate secrecy'' spreading throughout the country, says Jeffrey
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Weiner, president-elect of the 25000 member National Association of
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Criminal Defense Lawyers. // "The Justice Department boasts of the few
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big fish they catch. But they throw a cloak of secrecy over the
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information on how many innocent people are getting swept up in the same
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seizure net, so no one can see the enormity of the atrocity.'' //
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Terwilliger says the net catches the right people: "bad guys'' as he
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calls them. // But a 1990 Justice report on drug task forces in 15
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states found they stayed away from the in-depth financial investigations
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needed to cripple major traffickers. Instead, "they're going for the
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easy stuff,'' says James "Chip'' Coldren, Jr., executive director of
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the Bureau of Justice Assistance, a research arm of the federal Justice
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Department.
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Lawyers who say the law needs to be changed start with the basics: The
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government shouldn't be allowed to take property until after it proves
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the owner guilty of a crime. // But they go on to list other
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improvements, including having police abide by their state laws, which
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often don't give police as much latitude as the federal law. Now they
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can use federal courts to circumvent the state.
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Tracy Thomas is caught in that very bind. // A jurisprudence version of
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the shell game hides roughly $13000 taken from Thomas, a resident of
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Chester, near Philadelphia. // Thomas was visiting in his godson's home
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on Memorial Day, 1990, when local police entered looking for drugs
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allegedly sold by the godson. They found none and didn't file a criminal
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charge in the incident. But they seized $13000 from Thomas, who works
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as a $70000-a-year engineer, says his attorney, Clinton Johnson. // The
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cash was left over from a Sheriff's sale he'd attended a few days
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before, court records show. the sale required cash -- much like the
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government's own auctions. // During a hearing over the seized money,
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Thomas presented a withdrawal slip showing he'd removed money from his
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credit union shortly before the trip and a receipt showing how much he
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had paid for the property he'd bought at the sale. The balance was
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$13000. // On June 22, 1990, a state judge ordered Chester police to
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return Thomas' cash. // They haven't. Just before the court order was
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issued, the police turned over the cash to the DEA for processing as a
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federal case, forcing Thomas to fight another level of government.
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Thomas is now suing the Chester police, the arresting officer, and the
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DEA. // "When DEA took over that money, what they in effect told a
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local police department is that it's OK to break the law,'' says Clinton
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Johnson, attorney for Thomas.
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Police manipulate the courts not only to make it harder on owners to
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recover property, but to make it easier for police to get a hefty share
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of any forfeited goods. In federal court, local police are guaranteed up
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to 80 percent of the take -- a percentage that may be more than they'd
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receive under state law. // Pennsylvania's leading police agency -- the
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state police -- and the state's lead prosecutor -- the Attorney General
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bickered for two years over state police taking cases to federal
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court, an arrangement that cut the Attorney General out of the sharing.
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The two state agencies now have a written agreement on how to divvy
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the take. // The same debate is heard around the nation. // The hallways
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outside Cleveland courtrooms ring with arguments over who will get what,
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says Jay Milano, a Cleveland criminal defense attorney.
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"It's causing a feeding frenzy."</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 Dual Amiga/IBM (23:313/108)</p></xml> |