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Stephen Lara, a 16-year Marine veteran, just won a civil asset forfeiture case against the state of Nevada Highway Patrol (NHP). It would be nice if\u00a0 it was a bellwether for similar cases, but the ruling is pretty narrow.<\/p>\n
Lara was pulled over for driving under the limit (!) and following a semi too\u00a0 closely in 2021. When questioned whether he had a large amount of cash in his car, he said he did, as he didn’t trust banks, and allowed the officer to search the car.<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t trust banks, so I keep my own money,” he said. He let officers search his car, where they found $87,000 in a plastic bag, along with bank receipts and paystubs.<\/p>\n
Officers had a dog sniff the money and told Lara that the dog “alerted” to the money, suggesting it was tied to drugs. They seized his money and handed it over to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) using civil asset forfeiture, which allows the government to seize and keep property it alleges is connected to criminal activity, even if police don’t arrest anyone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So many things wrong here….Stephen, buddy – never, ever let the police search your car without a warrant. Whether you have any cash in the car is a “none of your business” question. Make ’em get a warrant… and call a lawyer.<\/p>\n
Nevada is one of many states with limitations on civil forfeiture,\u00a0requiring clear and convincing evidence that property is connected to a crime for it to be forfeited to the government.<\/p>\n
But a program called “equitable sharing” allows state and local law enforcement to partner with federal agencies on forfeitures and sidestep restrictions. After federal officials seize the property, they can return up to 80% of the proceeds to the state agency.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Yeah, basically police departments are INCENTIVIZED to
steal<\/del> seize your money.<\/p>\nWith the help of the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit civil liberties law firm, Lara eventually got his money back, but he has continued to sue for damages and to stop police from being able to take other peoples’ cash.<\/p>\n
Nevada Second Judicial District Judge Connie J. Steinheimer ruled earlier this month that the state legislature has “not explicitly permitted NHP to utilize the federal process for forfeiture \u2014 which has less rigorous standards.”<\/p>\n
“NHP cannot undermine this bedrock policy and effectively circumvent Nevada\u2019s civil asset forfeiture statutes by electing to participate in the federal equitable sharing program,” Steinheimer wrote.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Like I said, a pretty narrow ruling – it doesn’t give much of a precedent to stop civil asset forfeiture, sadly.\u00a0 Lara did get his money back, by the way – eventually. Curious where it came from?<\/p>\n
“This is personal to me,” he said. “It does something to you when you have a country that pays you a retirement check for the service you put in, and it’s that same country that’s working in collusion with these local state police departments to try to take the very money that they pay you for retirement.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So if you think you are protected by being able to show it isn’t drug money, think again. Lara had receipts, bank statements, presumably his separation pay receipt, and they still
stole<\/del> confiscated it.<\/p>\nMay be a good thing to contact your lawmakers and tell them to amend the law so civil asset forfeiture can only happen AFTER trial and conviction. There are proposals to limit or eliminate it (see the FAIR Act, introduced this time around (there have been several) to bipartisan support) – it’s time we limit the government’s abuse of this particular unConstitutional power.<\/p>\n
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