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