Text 1469, 39 rader
Skriven 2006-05-26 04:20:16 av Bob Ackley (1:2905/3)
   Kommentar till text 1435 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: none
============
Replying to a message of Ward Dossche to Bob Ackley:

 WD> Bob,

 >> So he has the court impound and sell a US Navy ship that happens to be
 >> in harbor, or one of the Army bases the US maintains over there. 
 >> Bottom line is he'll get his money back, an option that is not
 >> available to ordinary US citizens.

 WD> Not even if you can demonstrate the legitimate origin of a large
 WD> amount of cash?

Yep.  There have been several horror stories about cops confiscating cash from
people,
although I haven't seen any recently.  They've come up with something called
'administrative forfeiture,' which involves no judge or court, just the
unsupported assertion that the property was used for some sort of illegal
activity (originally drug trade, but this has been expanded to
include just about anything, some cities want to confiscate the automobiles of
men caught soliciting sex from police decoy 'prostitutes' - the automobile was
'used in the commission of a crime,' even if the owner parked it two blocks
away and walked up to the decoy).  The owner of the property must then post a
bond and file a court action to try to reclaim the property, the standard of
proof for the owner is much higher than that for the police, in that the owner
must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the property was not used in the manner
claimed, and the police only have to say that it was.

For many years the simple assertion that cash tested positive for drug residue
was grounds to declare that it was drug money.  Of course today, given the
vastly increased sensitivity of the tests, about 95% of the paper currency in
circulation will test positive for drug residue - including the cash in the
judge's wallet.  This is because the residue transfers by contact
in cash drawers, wallets, purses, ATMs and currency counting/sorting machines,
not because it was actually used in drug transactions.

Aren't you glad you don't live here?

--- FleetStreet 1.19+
 * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:2905/3)