POLICE FORFEITURE OF CASH BLASTED AS VIOLATION OF LAW

A Public Defender Challenges the Seizure of a Man's $586 After His
Case Is Dropped.

BROOKSVILLE - It was early and the parking lot empty when Anthony
Daniel parked his red Chevy Suburban the morning of April 21.

He probably was up to no good. Tucked under the driver's seat in
small plastic bags were 11 grams of marijuana and 12 oxycodone pills.

When Daniel, 26, saw a Brooksville police officer, he quickly drove
away. But at the point Officer Shawn Terry stopped him on Dr. M.L.
King Jr. Boulevard, he had done nothing wrong.

Daniel handed Terry his license but then sped away and fled on foot.
Authorities confiscated his truck, the drugs and $586 in cash found
in the door compartment.

Nothing after the stop matters in the eyes of the law. In November,
the State Attorney's Office dropped the four charges, including three
felonies, after realizing the officer had no legal justification to
stop Daniel.

But the case isn't over.

Earlier this month, Daniel returned to court to face the top brass
from the Brooksville Police Department in an effort to recover some
of his confiscated property. The chief refuses to return $586 in
cash his agency took from Daniel, citing an obscure agency procedure.

Daniel's situation isn't unique, but it sheds light on a policy some
attorneys think violates state law.

"There is no legal authority for them doing what they did," said
Assistant Public Defender Ray Shaw, who represents Daniel.

Police Chief George Turner, who inherited the case from the previous
administration when he took the helm in September, said the
department properly seized Daniel's property. But he acknowledged in
an interview that the forfeiture policy has been changed recently.

The dispute stems from the stop that April morning. To pull over
Daniel and question him, the officer needed reasonable suspicion to
believe he was about to commit a crime or already had.

Daniel's attorney filed a motion to throw out the entire case and
suppress the evidence. He won. Circuit Judge Jack Springstead signed
an order Nov. 5 telling the Police Department to return all of
Daniel's property. But when Daniel went to the department, they gave
him an undated document, with his signature at the bottom, that
detailed the terms of a settlement.

The one-paragraph compromise, negotiated by Brooksville Detective
Randal Orman a month after the arrest, returned Daniel's 1993 Chevy
and charged him $284 for impound fees on the condition that he
forfeit the $586 in cash to the department, according to a copy
obtained by the St. Petersburg Times.

Daniel's attorney doesn't challenge the document's authenticity -
just its legality.

Springstead refused to rule on the issue during a Jan. 3 hearing. He
told Daniel to challenge the settlement in civil court.

"There is a specific guideline they have to follow," Shaw said. "They
must go to court. They can't just get him to sign a piece of paper."

The settlement procedure in question is a relic of former Chief Ed
Tincher's administration that continued after his suspension in
February and through the interim term of Chief Frank Ross.

It's unclear how many times Brooksville officers used it to avoid the
normal procedure, which involves filing a forfeiture claim in civil court.

Other defense attorneys in Hernando County have quietly challenged it
before, though none so ardently as public defender Shaw. He
subpoenaed Turner, Lt. Rick Hankins and other Brooksville officers to
appear in court on the matter this month. Now he's taking the case to
the 5th District Court of Appeal.

The standard protocol for forfeiture cases, as defined by state law,
involves a civil lawsuit and the ability for the defendant to
challenge the seizure. That is how the Hernando County Sheriff's
Office handles most of its cases, especially if it involves taking
cash. And if the charges are dismissed, rarely will a judge allow an
agency to keep the property.

Brooksville police have filed forfeiture lawsuits sporadically,
county court records indicate, but other times they handle the matter
internally with a settlement agreement, as they did with Daniel.

These are permitted under state law, but must follow specific
guidelines and deadlines. In Daniel's case, and possibly untold
others, the department appeared to ignore those rules.

State law says these agreements must be reviewed by the court, unless
such a right is waived by the claimant. Also, if claimants aren't
represented by an attorney, they must sign a provision saying they
freely and voluntarily entered the agreement.

The letter Daniel signed had neither provision.

Calls to the Police Department's attorney, George Angelides with the
Hogan Law Firm, went unreturned. But the chief defended the
settlement agreement and the officer's stop of Daniel.

"It's a civil agreement that's standard operating procedure for many
departments in Florida and across the country," Turner said. "It's a
mutually agreed upon, signed letter."

Later he added, "I thought that was a very reasonable stop. That
officer is in no trouble with me or our department."

Still, Turner said soon after he took office he changed the policy.

The new language puts the decision to seize property solely in the
hands of supervisors and requires the immediate notification of the
city's attorneys.

It also takes away the officer's power to draft and sign settlement
agreements. The attorneys now must prepare a legal document that
needs the signature of the chief for approval.

"Now we do it all through our attorneys," Turner said. "The policies
prior to me getting here were old, and I'm not sure how it was done
or if it was always done the same."

Turner said the department still has Daniel's cash in evidence. And
he intends to fight to keep it.

[sidebar]

MISSING EVIDENCE?

What Happened?

The Brooksville Police Department seized $586 in cash from Anthony
Daniel after an illegal stop April 21. It refuses to return the money
because the parties signed a settlement agreement that Daniel's
attorney believes is illegal.

So where's the money now? The St. Petersburg Times put that question
to Brooksville Chief George Turner. He claimed the money was in the
department's trust fund account with all the other money from
property seizures. But a records request and call to the city's
finance department revealed the money never made it into the
department's coffer. Confronted by the evidence, Turner retracted his
statement and said he was told the cash is in the department's evidence room.

The evidence room is the topic of much scrutiny amid an ongoing
investigation by the FDLE. Turner said Daniel's case is not related
to the investigation.