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The Cops Took This Guy's $15,000 Jeep Because His Girlfriend Allegedly Used It for a $25 Marijuana Sale
Tucson handyman Kevin McBride was hard at work one Friday last May when his girlfriend offered to get him a cold drink from a convenience store. She took his Jeep, his sole means of transportation and the basis of his livelihood. Then the cops took his Jeep, and local prosecutors are now demanding a $1,900 ransom before he can get it back.
This sort of shakedown would be clearly felonious if ordinary criminals attempted it. But as McBride discovered, it is legal under Arizona's civil asset forfeiture law. The cops said McBride's girlfriend had used his Jeep to sell a small amount of marijuana to an undercover officer for $25. Although the charges against her were dropped, the Jeep is still being held as a party to that alleged offense, and McBride has to pay for the privilege of getting his property back.
Harris was likewise a firm proponent of civil asset forfeiture, sponsoring a bill to allow prosecutors to seize profits before charges were even filed. Years before that, she opposed AB 639, a bill that aimed to reform asset forfeiture. The bill easily cleared the state assembly, but was soon scuttled by a united wall of opposition from law enforcement, with whom Harris was united.
The Two Faces of Kamala Harris
The bill comes a month after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sharply limited a civil asset forfeiture program that had come under bipartisan scrutiny. A number of ideologically opposed groups, including American Civil Liberties Union, The Institute for Justice and Americans for Tax Reform, have all criticized forfeiture programs, particularly when no criminal charges are filed.
The bill is being sponsored by Attorney General Kamala Harris, who has focused on battling transnational criminal organizations. Harris said those groups have made California the biggest point of entry for methamphetamine trafficking into the United States, adding that this bill could equip local and state law enforcement with tools to “dismantle these dangerous organizations.
Luis Alejo, Kamala Harris back asset seizure before criminal charges – Monterey Herald
Biden and Harris want the government to be able to take everything you have for itself with no due process whatsoever - just take it. That doesn't surprise any of you, does it?
Still, I think it likely every or nearly every Democrat on this forum will vote that the government should be able take anything and everything they want to from legally defenseless poor and working people who can't afford to sue the government.
Arizona's civil forfeiture law
The Cops Took This Guy’s $15,000 Jeep Because His Girlfriend Allegedly Used It for a $25 Marijuana Sale – Reason.com
Arizona voted for:Nixon Ford Reagan Reagan Bush Bush Clinton Bush Bush McCainRomney Trump
Civil asset forfeiture is not just an Arizona issue. Politicians from both parties seem perfectly fine stealing from people who haven’t done anything wrong. Do you support that activity?
As a good, honest, hard-working citizen, I support law enforcement. Don't you?
My disdain for civil asset forfeiture has nothing to do with supporting law enforcement. I take it you support civil asset forfeiture as it currently exists?
How does it currently stand? The proceeds of crime are forfeit? Sounds OK.
My disdain for civil asset forfeiture has nothing to do with supporting law enforcement. I take it you support civil asset forfeiture as it currently exists?
How does it currently stand? The proceeds of crime are forfeit? Sounds OK.
Remember progressives, stick to your principles and don't forget to vote Joe/Blow!
How does it currently stand? The proceeds of crime are forfeit? Sounds OK.
On the other hand, the law helped the Mueller investigation turn a profit.
civil forfeiture laws should be banned nationwide. there's way too much potential for abuse.
Because Trump has ended civil forfeiture, Trumpist?
Because Trump has even lied about supporting an end to it, Trumpist?
Because Trump is against the War on Drugs, Trumpist?
Jesus, no, that's not how it stands.
How it stands is that if the police announce that something is a proceed of a crime or say that it is in any way related to a crime, they just take it. There's a farce of a 'procedure'. So if they say a guy is a drug dealer, they take everything they can grab right off the bat. That then leaves the guy unable to hire a lawyer. He's then thrown into a public defense system which is intentionally and massively underfunded. And even those the defense lawyer might be great and really really care, he has hundreds of cases in a year. He's not going to be able to devote much time, maybe a couple hours. So the person gets convicted.
But politicians call it "the proceeds of the crime are forfeit" so people say what you do. But it's not what's happening.
Civil forfeiture is used as a fundraising scheme by police and they are not in any rational sense proving in court that a thing they seized was in fact the proceeds of crime.
Did you read the link? Someone's girlfriend borrowed their car. She then got busted selling a pittance of pot, which should be legal anyway. So they take the guy's car and refuse to give it back - it's not even hers - unless he pays $1,900 anyway.
Did they prove that that guy's car was bought with the girlfriend's pot proceeds? Did they prove he had even received one single dollar from her having sold pot? Of course not. She just happened to be in it. They saw a quick buck for the department and stole it. Now they're trying to ransom it.
That's ****ing extortion. But a politician says "we need this so criminals don't profit from crime!" and all that gets swept under the rug.
Read up on it. Civil forfeiture is an abomination.
I 100% agree.
There should be a requirement that the burden of proof is on the government, that they must obtain a probable cause warrant first, must obtain a conviction, must prove ALL the money and/or property seized came from the crime/crimes of relevant to that conviction, and failing at any of that owe the person their money back, plus 10% interest, plus their attorney fees and costs of court.
The Cops Took This Guy’s $15,000 Jeep Because His Girlfriend Allegedly Used It for a $25 Marijuana Sale – Reason.com
Guess who had a big part in creating awful laws like these?
Some other links about Joe:
Civil libertarians have a beef with Joe Biden over asset forfeiture
Joe Biden: Father of the Drug War's Asset Forfeiture Program | Mises Wire
Let's not forget the Blow part of the ticket. Yes, Copmala luvs civil forfeiture even more than Joe:
and
Remember progressives, stick to your principles and don't forget to vote Joe/Blow!
Meanwhile:
Trump signs Collins’ IRS civil asset forfeiture bill
- Gainesville Times
So criminals should be allowed to profit from their crime so long as they convert it into property?
Sometimes in an organized society unwanted and unexpected costs arise.
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