Tag: Civil forfeiture

New Tennessee Bill Goes After Civil Forfeiture Laws

Chris Butler

State Rep. Martin Daniel, R-Knoxville has proposed a new law that, if enacted, would change Tennessee’s civil forfeiture laws. Specifically, the proposed law would require that local district attorneys general review the underlying circumstances of a seizure to determine if probable cause exists to justify forfeiture. When appropriate, the law requires that he or she “file a motion to dismiss the application for forfeiture warrant, upon which the court shall dismiss the application and return the seized property.” As The Tennessee Star reported last year, a State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said Tennessee’s civil forfeiture laws remain among the least protective of property owners in the nation.” Daniel told The Star that civil asset forfeiture in Tennessee “has gotten out of hand.” “We need to impose safeguards to ensure innocent persons are not swept up in this effort. We can do that by making sure law enforcement is subject to Tennessee law and limit their ability to hand the matter off, via the equitable sharing process the federal government allows,” Daniel said. According to Recuro.org, a federal program known as “Equitable Sharing” “allows prosecutors to bypass more stringent state asset forfeiture laws by passing cases…

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Commentary: Look to the States – Not SCOTUS – for Real Asset Forfeiture Reform

Admin

by Tate Fegley   There is a case – Timbs v. Indiana – currently before the United States Supreme Court regarding civil asset forfeiture and whether the excessive fines clause of the 8th Amendment also applies to the states due to the 14th Amendment’s incorporation clause. The petitioner is Tyson Timbs, who became addicted to the opioid hydrocodone after having received a prescription for his foot pain. After his prescription had run out, he bought it from a dealer. After his dealer had run out, he was persuaded to try heroin as a substitute and became addicted. He eventually overcame his addiction but relapsed around the time of his father’s death. Timbs received $73,000 from his father’s life insurance policy and used $42,000 of it to buy a 2012 Land Rover. Wanting to make money to fund his habit, he was convinced by a confidential informant to deal heroin. He made two deals with undercover narcotics agents (each deal for two grams) and, on his way to the third deal, was pulled over and arrested. His Land Rover was seized on the spot. Timbs was charged with two counts of dealing in a controlled substance and one count of conspiracy…

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Report: Tennessee Civil Forfeiture Laws Among the Nation’s Least Protective

Chris Butler

Tennessee has reformed some of its civil forfeiture laws, but more work remains, according to new report from a State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. “Tennessee’s civil forfeiture laws remain among the least protective of property owners in the nation,” according to the findings. The 17 members of Tennessee SAC released their report late last week and submitted it to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. “Tennessee’s current civil forfeiture laws impose unnecessary burdens upon innocent property owners who seek the return of their property and provide no right to counsel even where basic needs are at risk,” according to the report. “The Tennessee SAC also found that local law enforcement agencies are permitted to use seized assets for their own use without independent monitoring, creating financial incentives for misuse of the law. The Tennessee SAC further determined that recent abuse of civil forfeiture laws has been well-documented.” Tennessee SAC also reported an absence of comprehensive data concerning where, when, and against whom civil forfeiture is used. That, SAC members went on to write, “limits meaningful oversight of local law enforcement agencies—resulting in a lack of fair and consistent use of civil forfeiture across the state.”…

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Commentary: Tennessee’s Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws Must Be Reformed Now

David Nance

The United States Constitution, specifically the 5th Amendment, states that we shall not be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. Tennessee’s current laws regarding civil asset forfeiture include allowing money to be confiscated from people based solely on suspicion, with no evidence of wrong doing at all. So if you’re pulled over in Tennessee, do your best to look innocent and broke; emphasis on broke. Tennessee legislators need a refresher on the U.S. Constitution, or they may just need to read the constitution for their first time. Should a suspicious policeman really meet the threshold of due process of law? Only in the Twilight Zone or some third world dictatorship. When a police officer’s job depends on how much he is able to confiscate, which is the case in some police organizations in Tennessee, officers tend to become the suspicious type. Innocent until proven guilty might occasionally still work for us, but not for our cash. Many times money is confiscated from people by police with the person having his property seized never being charged with a crime at all. People having only a few thousand dollars seized might well find it more expensive to…

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