CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE AN UNREASONABLE TOOL

Forfeiture means to give up, or to lose (beyond default). But to give up
what? And to whom? The power of civil asset forfeiture has been a tool used
by government and law enforcement for many decades, involving two types of
forfeiture (seizure) -- criminal and civil.

The drug laws allow criminal forfeiture as a punishment upon conviction of
manufacturing or growing drugs (with intent to distribute). Criminal
forfeiture follows due process procedure, where the convicted have to prove
their innocence beyond a reasonable doubt, show a burden of proof,
presumption of innocence, and basically all the protections the Bill of
Rights guarantees. Also, in criminal forfeiture, one is innocent until
proven guilty.

However, civil asset forfeiture does not follow the aforementioned; rather,
it has a short-circuited approach. The property is presumed "guilty" and
the owner has to prove otherwise to get it back. If the property's
innocence is not proved, it is found "guilty" and it is then "punished" or
forfeited to the government.

If the police find out one is manufacturing or trafficking drugs, or there
is a patch of marijuana on one's property unbeknownst to the owner, one's
property (land, car, money, animals and house) can and will be seized. Now
the property is guilty by probable cause, but that is not enough to justify
a seizure of property, only a search. The owner can retrieve said property
by filing a lawsuit against the government and posting a "cost bond
requirement" -- equal to 10 percent of the value of the assets the
government seized.

Even if one is falsely accused, there need not be any indictment, hearing
or trial because the government simply "says" the property was involved in
said criminal activity. In some 80 percent of the cases, no criminal charge
is even filed.

Dave Bonan
Danbury