Another Family ruined over a lil bud and "citizen forfeiture

Should citizen forfeiture be allowed


  • Total voters
    19
  • Poll closed .

Karthos

Member
http://magicvalley.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/seized-assets-critics-push-for-reform-of-controversial-forfeiture-laws/article_108d5d0f-cfbf-53ff-be7d-02e043691fa1.html

TWIN FALLS • In the first days of 2010, the Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from an anonymous source that a Hispanic man and his wife were selling drugs out of their home at 656 Callaway Court.

A deputy went to the home Jan. 8 and dug through the trash, finding evidence that a woman named Jasil Gomez lived there, according to court documents. A week later, Gomez answered deputies’ knock on the door.

The discovery prompted the deputies to secure the home and apply for a search warrant. Once a judge signed the warrant, “a thorough search of the residence was conducted,” Joslin wrote in a sworn affidavit.

But rather than finding evidence of a large-scale trafficking operation like the anonymous tipster had suggested, deputies found only circumstantial evidence, like a pendant with the picture of Jesus Malverde, a possibly mythical figure who is worshiped by some drug traffickers as the Narco Saint of Sinaloa, Mexico.

But in the top dresser drawer, next to one of the small bags of marijuana, deputies found something else: $11,000 in cash. In other parts of the home, they found another $1,010....

The rest is at the link, talks a lot about citizen forfeiture and problems with "policing for profit"
 

spandy

Well-Known Member
Counterfeit SS card, counterfeit residence card, 12k just laying around.

Why they fucking with upstanding citizens of whatever country they are from. Damn cops, geez.
 

ThickStemz

Well-Known Member
i see.

it's OK because they are not white.

got it.
It's ok because to a reasonable person that money was most likely earned illegally.

Theyre here ilegally. Theyre counterfeiting our documents. And they're selling drugs to support themselves and I would be willing to bet taking social services while at it.

Yes, kick them the fuck out and keep their cash.

In opposed to civil forfeiture in many cases. But in cases where the money is clearly derrived from the sale of drugs, it's hard to be opposed.
 

srh88

Well-Known Member
It's ok because to a reasonable person that money was most likely earned illegally.

Theyre here ilegally. Theyre counterfeiting our documents. And they're selling drugs to support themselves and I would be willing to bet taking social services while at it.

Yes, kick them the fuck out and keep their cash.

In opposed to civil forfeiture in many cases. But in cases where the money is clearly derrived from the sale of drugs, it's hard to be opposed.
youre on a website dedicated to growing bud.. and youre telling us this?
that post will go over about as well as a boner in sweatpants here
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
and the part of the fake residency card, which means they are probably here illegally.

So give them their cash back, charge them for counterfeiting government documents, then ship their ass back where they came from and then move along.
The issue discussed in the OP is the practice of confiscating cash that seems at the time to be more than a normal amount for people to carry with them. A guy sold his truck for cash and it was taken from him in a traffic stop in Nevada. He never got his money back. A police unit in Northern Florida stops people driving through the county and takes their money from them when they want to. Not surprisingly, they stop mostly black people. The sheriff even went on record as saying they stop people who are driving the speed limit because a drug dealer would do that.

They confiscate homes, cars, jewelry using the same pretense. Getting it back entails such an expensive legal battle that the cost is more than the confiscation.

“It turns the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt on its head,” Magic Valley defense attorney Tony Valdez said during a May 24 interview from his Twin Falls office. “The statute is pretty broad. You would think due process would require a finding of guilt — if you’re guilty of a crime, then police can seize your property — but the way the statute is, the police just start taking it, and it’s on you to prove your innocence.”

In the article, the police confiscated 12000, returned 3000 and kept 9000. Nobody was charged and no charges were filed regarding the fake documents. It was a case of civil asset forfeiture for no good reason. Was anybody found to be here illegally? I can't find any reference to that other than the fake documents which ended up being much ado about nothing according to the police.

No reference to deportation. This is made up shit.
 

ChesusRice

Well-Known Member
The issue discussed in the OP is the practice of confiscating cash that seems at the time to be more than a normal amount for people to carry with them. A guy sold his truck for cash and it was taken from him in a traffic stop in Nevada. He never got his money back. A police unit in Northern Florida stops people driving through the county and takes their money from them when they want to. Not surprisingly, they stop mostly black people. The sheriff even went on record as saying they stop people who are driving the speed limit because a drug dealer would do that.

They confiscate homes, cars, jewelry using the same pretense. Getting it back entails such an expensive legal battle that the cost is more than the confiscation.

“It turns the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt on its head,” Magic Valley defense attorney Tony Valdez said during a May 24 interview from his Twin Falls office. “The statute is pretty broad. You would think due process would require a finding of guilt — if you’re guilty of a crime, then police can seize your property — but the way the statute is, the police just start taking it, and it’s on you to prove your innocence.”

In the article, the police confiscated 12000, returned 3000 and kept 9000. Nobody was charged and no charges were filed regarding the fake documents. It was a case of civil asset forfeiture for no good reason. Was anybody found to be here illegally? I can't find any reference to that other than the fake documents which ended up being much ado about nothing according to the police.

No reference to deportation. This is made up shit.
You know. This is just the stuff the police report they stole from citizens
 

Rob Roy

Well-Known Member
IMO It's a bullshit policy with the sole purpose of allowing them to sidestep the burden of proof that is required to pursue criminal charges, and it seems to seriously violate our presumption of innocence and right to due process.
It's just another form of the many forms of legal theft.
 

Ace Yonder

Well-Known Member
Seems like an overly simplistic analysis. It assumes that to be a good person, you need to ONLY do good things, like 99 good things and 1 bad thing makes a bad person (as opposed to everyone having flaws, which is much more realistic "It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations"-Charles Dickens) and it blames cops for enforcing laws that we the people are responsible for passing (even if we didn't want them passed, we are complicit in a system that passes them as much as cops are complicit in a system that enforces things they may not personally agree with). So, if there are no good cops, then there are no good citizens either. Blanket statements rarely hit the mark.
 

HydroRed

Well-Known Member
I understand its not against the law to have large amounts of cash. I also understand that not being able to prove how you earned that large amount of cash seized when suspected of drug dealing doesnt put the law on your side either. I've read about multiple cases where the money is confiscated and more times than not, the money is kept due to the person not being able to prove such income....or any income at all. Not sure why someone would have 20K in cash, but dont work, or file taxes or 1099. Not sure why someone with that kinda coin just "saved up" doesnt have a retainer for a good lawyer either.
 

doublejj

Well-Known Member
I understand its not against the law to have large amounts of cash. I also understand that not being able to prove how you earned that large amount of cash seized when suspected of drug dealing doesnt put the law on your side either. I've read about multiple cases where the money is confiscated and more times than not, the money is kept due to the person not being able to prove such income....or any income at all. Not sure why someone would have 20K in cash, but dont work, or file taxes or 1099. Not sure why someone with that kinda coin just "saved up" doesnt have a retainer for a good lawyer either.
that was with 3 lawyers....:roll:
 
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