Tag: Representative Martin Daniel

State Representatives Martin Daniel and Bruce Griffey Urged Governor Bill Lee to Reopen Tennessee

Laura Baigert

At least two State Representatives, Martin Daniel (R-Knoxville) and Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) wrote formal letters to Governor Bill Lee, urging him to reopen Tennessee immediately.

Representative Daniel, who will have served three terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives, announced last month that he will not seek reelection in 2020.  Representative Griffey is currently serving his first term.

The Representatives wrote their letters based on the input of their constituents and in response to last week’s extension of Governor Lee’s stay-at-home order through April 30.

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State Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform, Sent For Summer Study, Now Dead For This Year

Laura Baigert

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The civil asset forfeiture reform bill was sent for summer study, thereby ending any further discussion or action this year by the Tennessee General Assembly. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Martin Daniel (R-Knoxville) had been working the bill for weeks, which was set to culminate on Tuesday at the bill’s first stop in the House Civil Justice Subcommittee with witnesses to testify on the matter. By the time the HB 0340 was set to be heard, it had 36 bipartisan co-sponsors in the House, including 14 of the 26 House Democrats. In addition, the Nashville Metro Council approved a resolution opposing civil asset forfeiture without a criminal conviction, as reported by The Tennessee Star. The resolution was sent to the Davidson County delegation of the Tennessee General Assembly. However, law enforcement and the Department of Safety had been lobbying hard against the bill. This despite the concerns expressed about the “Civil Rights Implications of Tennessee’s Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws and Practices,” as reported on in February 2018 by the Tennessee Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The Commission found, “Tennessee’s civil asset forfeiture law lacks many procedure safeguards that are commonplace in other states,” and,…

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Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Continues to Receive Resistance in Tennessee

Laura Baigert

Despite actions at the federal level and dozens of states, legislation to reform civil asset forfeiture in Tennessee is continually received with resistance. Civil asset forfeiture is a tool whereby law enforcement seizes assets such as money and property that was obtained illegally by criminals. The goal of law enforcement is to defund the criminals’ enterprise and assist with the funding of law enforcement’s future efforts. The process, though, has come to be referred to as “policing for profit,” because assets have been seized that weren’t directly involved in the commission of a crime, a criminal conviction is not required for the seizure and the rightful owner has to fight in court to win back their own property. The court battle to retrieve one’s property is one of a civil nature, not criminal. As such, the property’s claimant is not entitled to an attorney if they cannot afford one, as a defendant would be so entitled in a criminal case. In a 2015 Tennessee case, a woman and her mother drove to the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center with $12,000 in cash she claimed was raised by family and community members for the purpose of posting bond to secure the…

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Nashville Metro Council Opposes Civil Asset Forfeiture Without Criminal Conviction As State House Prepares for Hearing on Reform Bill

Laura Baigert

The Nashville Metropolitan Council approved a resolution opposing civil asset forfeiture without a criminal conviction on Tuesday, just as a bill aimed at reforming state civil asset forfeiture laws is scheduled to be heard in a House committee meeting this coming week. Nashville Metropolitan Council Resolution RS2019-1628 directs that the Metropolitan Clerk send a copy of the Resolution to the Davidson County delegation of the Tennessee General Assembly. As The Tennessee Star previously reported, Representative Martin Daniel (R-Knoxville) and Senator Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) are the sponsors of a civil asset forfeiture reform bill, filed under HB 0340 and SB 0362, respectively.  It is the only reform bill filed this year under the subject of forfeiture of assets. Civil asset forfeiture laws are intended to assist law enforcement officials in seizing assets illegally obtained by criminals to defund their criminal enterprise and to help fund law enforcement’s future efforts. The civil asset forfeiture process, though, has been turned against innocent citizens and has received national attention, because assets have been seized that weren’t directly involved in the commission of a crime, assets are not necessarily returned even though the owner was never convicted of a crime, and the rightful owner has…

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Proposed Reforms of Civil Asset Forfeiture in Tennessee to Be Heard This Week in House Subcommittee

Laura Baigert

A bill that will make several changes to Tennessee’s civil asset forfeiture procedures will be heard in the Civil Justice Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. House Bill HB 0340, sponsored by Representative Martin Daniel (R-Knoxville), is yet another attempt by the legislator to make the State’s laws more protective of the due process of law and the rights of innocent property owners when it comes to civil asset forfeiture. Daniels sponsored HB 0421 in 2017 where it passed out of the House Civil Justice Committee, but not getting out of the House Criminal Justice Committee, continued into 2018 before its progress was halted by being “taken off notice.” Civil asset forfeiture is a law enforcement tool that permits private property to be seized and retained if it is suspect that it may have been involved in criminal activity without the requirement of a conviction or even criminal charges. In a statement to The Tennessee Star, Representative Daniels said his bill as it stands now will do three things: Require the local district attorney general to examine the facts underlying each seizure and, if the facts do not reveal that the property was taken per probable cause to…

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