N.Y.C. LAW CONTINUES EROSION OF RIGHTS

To the editor:

I found your March 3 editorial - about the New York City law that permits
confiscation of a suspected drunken driver's vehicle - rather quaint in
objecting to punishment without due process. That ship sailed long ago.

The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees that we cannot be
deprived of property without "due process of law," but we have sat by
quietly with our hands folded neatly in our laps while Congress and state
legislatures defined "due process" to be mere accusation of those suspected
of drug trafficking, money laundering and even crimes of much lower order.

By our inaction we have given up the right to trial by jury and verdict
beyond a reasonable doubt or, at least, verdict based on a preponderance of
evidence, when it comes to property seizure. We can now argue about which
suspected criminals deserve greater and lesser protection, but the absolute
right to a common-sense notion of due process is long gone.

Dan Carter

San Luis Obispo