HIGH COURT TO HEAR CHALLENGE TO DWI VEHICLE SEIZURE

NEW ORLEANS -- Norman Keith Edwards' truck has been impounded ever since he
pleaded guilty nearly two years ago to a driving while intoxicated charge
stemming from his third DWI arrest in a four-month span.

Now, the Denham Springs man not only wants his truck back, but he also is
asking the Louisiana Supreme Court to strike down the state law that allows
for the seizure, impoundment and sale at public auction of a vehicle that a
person convicted of third-offense DWI was driving at the time of the arrest.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Feb. 21 from Edwards' attorney
and the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office. In an unusual
move, the high court also has invited comments from the Louisiana District
Attorneys Association.

"Clearly it's a serious issue," said Baton Rouge lawyer Scott Collier, who
represents the 39-year-old Edwards.

Longtime Louisiana District Attorneys Association executive director Pete
Adams said that only once before have the justices sought comment from the
association. Normally, the LDAA must ask for the high court's permission to
intervene in a case, he said.

Collier contends the forfeiture provision of the third-offense DWI law is
unconstitutional because the 1974 Louisiana Constitution says "personal
effects shall never be taken."

"The plain language of the constitution says they can't do that," he said.

But in 1989, the state Legislature passed the Seizure and Controlled
Dangerous Substances Property Forfeiture Act, which involves property
involved in illegal drug activity or derived from such activity. The state
Supreme Court upheld the act's constitutionality in 1996.

Collier claims the 1997 seizure provision of the third-offense DWI law does
not fall under the 1989 drug contraband exception to the constitutional
prohibition against the taking of personal effects.

"A constitutionally protected right always and necessarily trumps an act of
the legislature in conflict with that right," Collier argues in documents
filed at the high court.

Assistant District Attorney Creighton Abadie disagrees and draws a
distinction between the 1989 drug forfeiture act and the third-offense DWI
seizure provision. Abadie says the '89 act allows for the forfeiture of
property in a "civil proceeding," while the DWI vehicle seizure provision
is part of a criminal sentence.

"The forfeiture of a vehicle upon conviction is no different than a person
being sentenced to pay a fine upon conviction equal to the value of the
vehicle he was driving at the time of the offense, and thus, the provision
is constitutional," Abadie argued in documents filed at the state 1st
Circuit Court of Appeal that now are part of the Supreme Court record.

A three-judge 1st Circuit panel voted 2-1 last February to affirm Edwards'
sentence, which included the forfeiture of his car. The two-judge majority
said it agreed with Edwards that the DWI vehicle seizure statute "does not
fall under the contraband drug exception," but the judges found the statute
to be constitutional under the U.S. and Louisiana constitutions' due
process clauses. The judges said Edwards was given fair notice and a chance
to be heard before his vehicle was taken.

"Advance notice does not create authority to do that which the Constitution
expressly states not to do," Collier argues.

State District Judge Tony Clayton gave Edwards a suspended two-year prison
term and put him on probation for 18 months with numerous conditions.

Edwards was booked in December with fourth-offense DWI after he backed into
another vehicle on North Harrell's Ferry Road, according to Baton Rouge
police. Edwards, who refused to take a field sobriety test, also was booked
with reckless operation of a vehicle and driving without carrying a
license, police said.

Supreme Court records show Edwards' first DWI arrest came Dec. 18, 1997; he
was convicted Jan. 14, 1998, in Baton Rouge City Court. His second DWI
arrest was March 7, 1998, with an April 13, 1998, conviction in Denham
Springs City Court. Edwards' third DWI arrest came the day before his April
13, 1998, conviction. He pleaded guilty to the third-offense charge Feb. 1,
1999.

The truck Edwards was driving at the time of his third DWI arrest remains
in the custody of the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, Collier said.