HIGH COURT WON'T REVIEW TOUGH RULING ON CAR SEIZURE

SAN FRANCISCO -- In a move that may lead to an expansion of vehicle-seizure
laws around the state, the California Supreme Court declined yesterday to
review a ruling that local governments can seize the vehicles of people
suspected of dealing drugs or soliciting prostitutes from a car.

The high court upheld a 1997 Oakland ordinance allowing such seizures, even
if the suspect isn't convicted or is acquitted. The law applies even if the
owner wasn't in the car and didn't know of or support the crime.

Following yesterday's closely watched ruling, comparable seizure laws are
expected to be adopted by cities and counties across the state.

Sacramento, for one, already has a similar law. San Francisco lawmakers
shelved the idea last month after concluding that it was unconstitutional.

Without comment, a majority of the high court's justices declined to review
the American Civil Liberties Union's challenge of the Oakland law. The ACLU
contended, among other things, that similar laws would proliferate with
cities viewing them as moneymaking ventures.

Only justices Stanley Mosk and Joyce L. Kennard voted to review the case.

Oakland has seized about 300 cars under the law and keeps the profits from
their sale.

After a state appeals court ruling in July upheld the so-called "nuisance
abatement" law, nearly a dozen California cities contacted Oakland to learn
how they could enact their own similar seizure law, said Oakland Deputy
City Attorney Pelayo Llamas.

"The impetus for the City Council was really complaints from certain
communities which were essentially drive-through sex-and-drug bazaars,"
Llamas said. "People were sick of having lines of cars in their streets
with this activity going on."

Oakland's ordinance is harsher than state and federal forfeiture laws.

State law allows for the forfeiture of a vehicle used in drug sales and
prostitution, but forbids seizures if the owner wasn't aware of the crime
or if the car was a family's only mode of transportation

The state law applies only when large quantities of drugs are involved.
Oakland's ordinance allows seizures when a person is caught selling any
amount of drugs.

Congress this year added a so-called "innocent owner" provision protecting
owners of vehicles used in crimes without their knowledge.

Oakland seizes vehicles even when owners don't know about the crime.

Last year, Gov. Gray Davis vetoed a bill that sought to stop the seizures.
The bill, AB 662 by Assemblyman Herb Wesson, D-Los Angeles, would have
barred forfeitures in cases not involving criminal convictions.

The ACLU challenged the case on behalf of Oakland resident Sam Horton, who
sued as a taxpayer. His vehicle was not involved in any criminal wrongdoing.