KC POLICE MUST GIVE BACK DRUG FELON'S FORFEITED MONEY, JUDGE RULES

Kansas City police must refund more than $34,000 to an imprisoned drug
felon because the way they took the money from him broke state law.

On Friday, Clay County Circuit Judge David Russell ordered the department
to pay back the money plus interest to Vincent Karpierz, who was arrested
and convicted in 1998.

An appellate court already had ruled that police evaded Missouri law when
they gave Karpierz's cash to a federal agency instead of going through a
state court. The federal agency returned most of the money to police.

If police had followed state law, the forfeited money probably would have
gone to education.

Friday's decision has far-reaching implications for law enforcement
agencies across the state, said Attorney General Jay Nixon. Each year,
police give millions of dollars in drug money to federal agencies.

If police and state law enforcement agencies continue to break state law,
they face refunding drug money in other cases, Nixon said.

"It's a stark reminder to law enforcement officers and agencies that the
law is the law," Nixon said. "The fact of a police organization having to
pay money directly to a drug dealer provides a stark example of what can
happen if you do not do it right."

Some attorneys said Friday's ruling also suggested that defendants in
current cases might be able to sue to recover money that had been seized
from them by law enforcement agencies that then evaded state law.

Police Chief Rick Easley said Friday that he had not talked to his
attorneys, so he could not discuss the case or whether the decision would
be appealed. But the department follows the law, he said.

"What we are doing is being in total compliance with state law," Easley
said. "That's what is important to me."

In March 1998, Kansas City police got a tip that Karpierz was selling drugs
from his home at 5208 N. Wheeling Ave. Police watched the home for three
weeks and then got a search warrant, according to Kansas City police records.

On April 17, police searched his home and found $33,000 in a box, as well
as marijuana in several places in the home. Karpierz, who had left the
house, was pulled over for a traffic violation. Police found $1,029 on him.

Police then called the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, which sent
two Kansas law enforcement officers who were deputized as DEA agents. They
took the money and left.

Later, the DEA returned about $21,000 to Kansas City police.

Karpierz was sentenced to five years in state prison. He is scheduled to be
released in April 2002, a Department of Corrections and Human Resources
spokesman said. Karpierz declined Friday to be interviewed.

After going to prison, Karpierz sued to get his money back.

The Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City ruled in November that Kansas
City police officials had violated state law. Police in Missouri need an
order from a state court before they can transfer money to federal
agencies, the court said.

The police maneuver with federal agencies was not unusual.

The Kansas City Star found last year that police across the country
commonly evaded their own laws and gave seized money to federal agencies so
that they could keep most of it. Many states prohibit law enforcement
agencies from directly benefiting from seized money because the states see
it as a conflict of interest.

The appellate court sent the case back to Judge Russell to determine
whether Karpierz should get the money back.

Daniel Haus, an attorney for the Kansas City police, argued that Karpierz
should not get the money back because there was no remedy under state law
to return it. Instead, Haus said, Karpierz should have taken his case to
the federal court because the federal government had forfeited the money.

But Russell said Missouri law provided a remedy.

"The possibility of going to federal court and succeeding in any kind of
claim as a defendant is like hitting your head against that wall over
there," Russell said in his ruling. "I do not think that it's ever been the
intention of the state of Missouri to say, `Tough, there's just no way that
you should be able to proceed under any state remedy.' "

Russell ordered police to pay back the money and court costs, as well as 9
percent interest dating back to April 1998.

In an odd and painful twist for police, they must pay back more money than
they received.

Police gave $34,029 to the DEA, which returned $21,000. The DEA kept 20
percent for processing, and two Kansas law enforcement agencies received
the rest.

Law enforcement officials said the court decisions didn't mean police
couldn't seize drug money -- only that they must follow the law.

"It's correct to do it right from the front end," Nixon said. "It makes
nobody happy when drug dealers get money, except obviously the drug
dealers, whom we don't want to make happy."

The court decisions also suggest that police agencies could be liable for
money they unilaterally hand over to federal agencies, two attorneys said
Friday.

Although it is unclear whether the decisions are retroactive, they apply to
any pending cases or those that are still under an appeal time limit, they
said.

James McMullin, attorney for Karpierz, said he expected "a whole flurry of
cases to be filed," adding that he had already received more than a
half-dozen calls about cases in which police had seized money since the
appellate decision had been handed down in November.

McMullin said the law needed to be researched to determine whether a
statute of limitations existed, and if not, judges would have to establish
that.

Dan Viets, a Columbia attorney who has handled several forfeiture cases,
said he believed the decisions clearly applied to police agencies in
current cases.

Viets said police had broadly violated forfeiture law in Missouri. "The
courts are finally putting a stop to it," he said.

Dale Close, the Kansas City Police Department's chief legal counsel,
declined to comment after Friday's hearing.

An attorney for the Missouri Highway Patrol said he would research the
decision Friday but did not return a phone call.