Marine wins Civil Asset Forfeiture case
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 it was a bellwether for similar cases, but the ruling is pretty narrow.
Lara was pulled over for driving under the limit (!) and following a semi too 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.
“I don’t 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.
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.
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.
Nevada is one of many states with limitations on civil forfeiture, requiring clear and convincing evidence that property is connected to a crime for it to be forfeited to the government.
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.
Yeah, basically police departments are INCENTIVIZED to steal seize your money.
With 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.
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 — which has less rigorous standards.”
“NHP cannot undermine this bedrock policy and effectively circumvent Nevada’s civil asset forfeiture statutes by electing to participate in the federal equitable sharing program,” Steinheimer wrote.
Like I said, a pretty narrow ruling – it doesn’t give much of a precedent to stop civil asset forfeiture, sadly. Lara did get his money back, by the way – eventually. Curious where it came from?
“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.”
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 confiscated it.
May 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.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Crime
I hope he also sued (and won) for loss of interest, lawyer fees, any late payment fines/fees due to seizure of income, his time & expenses….
a round half mill should be sufficient
Rand Paul submits a bill to remove this from the law.
Some times he can get another senator to co sponsor it.
Most ignore it and let the stealing continue.
It’s for the children.
I do wish we had more like Paul and his dad in the Congress, he is like the proverbial one legged man in an ass kicking contest.
“the dog “alerted” to the money, suggesting it was tied to drugs”
Unless it was printed yesterday, all money will alert a dog to drugs.
Lesson here is never carry more than $50k while driving and
just say no to drugs.
As a retired cop (me) once said; never “let” the police search your car.
A corollary to that is never give them probable cause either. Don’t have an open container or smoke drugs in your car for example. If they ask you questions outside the scope of the traffic stop simply refuse to answer.
Yep…and it’s not a good idea to be driving a rental car on a major interstate late at night either, ’cause everybody knows that drug runners use rental cars and stick to the major roads to avoid license checks and such. Rental cars give them a “probable cause” reason to stop you. And don’t carry a goodly amount of “walking around money” when you fly down to visit the Grand Children. Ask me how I know.
Damn shame, that of late, seems like 99% of the Po Po give the other 1% a bad name.
I remember seeing body camera of the stop on that tube site.
I do love a happy ending… hope he gets a bonu$ in the end.
The nevada Shutzstaffel running amok like a SSmuck
Prepare to have your blood boil…
I only found out about his recently. There are scores of videos about this “scam”. TSA agents see cash in your bag, and call the DEA which will essentially confiscate your money because they can, and you have almost zero chance of ever getting it back. The TSA agents get cash rewards from the agents, and their agency pockets your money which totals in the millions every year. This a short video from ATL news, but this happening at every airport.