Pubdate: Sat, 06 Jan 2001
Source: Kansas City Star (MO)
Copyright: 2001 The Kansas City Star
Contact:  1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64108
Feedback: http://www.kansascity.com/Discussion/
Website: http://www.kcstar.com/
Author: Karen Dillon

KC POLICE MUST GIVE BACK DRUG FELON'S FORFEITED MONEY, JUDGE RULES

Kansas City police must refund more than $34,000 to an imprisoned drug 
felon because the way they took the money from him broke state law.

On Friday, Clay County Circuit Judge David Russell ordered the department 
to pay back the money plus interest to Vincent Karpierz, who was arrested 
and convicted in 1998.

An appellate court already had ruled that police evaded Missouri law when 
they gave Karpierz's cash to a federal agency instead of going through a 
state court. The federal agency returned most of the money to police.

If police had followed state law, the forfeited money probably would have 
gone to education.

Friday's decision has far-reaching implications for law enforcement 
agencies across the state, said Attorney General Jay Nixon. Each year, 
police give millions of dollars in drug money to federal agencies.

If police and state law enforcement agencies continue to break state law, 
they face refunding drug money in other cases, Nixon said.

"It's a stark reminder to law enforcement officers and agencies that the 
law is the law," Nixon said. "The fact of a police organization having to 
pay money directly to a drug dealer provides a stark example of what can 
happen if you do not do it right."

Some attorneys said Friday's ruling also suggested that defendants in 
current cases might be able to sue to recover money that had been seized 
from them by law enforcement agencies that then evaded state law.

Police Chief Rick Easley said Friday that he had not talked to his 
attorneys, so he could not discuss the case or whether the decision would 
be appealed. But the department follows the law, he said.

"What we are doing is being in total compliance with state law," Easley 
said. "That's what is important to me."

In March 1998, Kansas City police got a tip that Karpierz was selling drugs 
from his home at 5208 N. Wheeling Ave. Police watched the home for three 
weeks and then got a search warrant, according to Kansas City police records.

On April 17, police searched his home and found $33,000 in a box, as well 
as marijuana in several places in the home. Karpierz, who had left the 
house, was pulled over for a traffic violation. Police found $1,029 on him.

Police then called the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, which sent 
two Kansas law enforcement officers who were deputized as DEA agents. They 
took the money and left.

Later, the DEA returned about $21,000 to Kansas City police.

Karpierz was sentenced to five years in state prison. He is scheduled to be 
released in April 2002, a Department of Corrections and Human Resources 
spokesman said. Karpierz declined Friday to be interviewed.

After going to prison, Karpierz sued to get his money back.

The Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City ruled in November that Kansas 
City police officials had violated state law. Police in Missouri need an 
order from a state court before they can transfer money to federal 
agencies, the court said.

The police maneuver with federal agencies was not unusual.

The Kansas City Star found last year that police across the country 
commonly evaded their own laws and gave seized money to federal agencies so 
that they could keep most of it. Many states prohibit law enforcement 
agencies from directly benefiting from seized money because the states see 
it as a conflict of interest.

The appellate court sent the case back to Judge Russell to determine 
whether Karpierz should get the money back.

Daniel Haus, an attorney for the Kansas City police, argued that Karpierz 
should not get the money back because there was no remedy under state law 
to return it. Instead, Haus said, Karpierz should have taken his case to 
the federal court because the federal government had forfeited the money.

But Russell said Missouri law provided a remedy.

"The possibility of going to federal court and succeeding in any kind of 
claim as a defendant is like hitting your head against that wall over 
there," Russell said in his ruling. "I do not think that it's ever been the 
intention of the state of Missouri to say, `Tough, there's just no way that 
you should be able to proceed under any state remedy.' "

Russell ordered police to pay back the money and court costs, as well as 9 
percent interest dating back to April 1998.

In an odd and painful twist for police, they must pay back more money than 
they received.

Police gave $34,029 to the DEA, which returned $21,000. The DEA kept 20 
percent for processing, and two Kansas law enforcement agencies received 
the rest.

Law enforcement officials said the court decisions didn't mean police 
couldn't seize drug money -- only that they must follow the law.

"It's correct to do it right from the front end," Nixon said. "It makes 
nobody happy when drug dealers get money, except obviously the drug 
dealers, whom we don't want to make happy."

The court decisions also suggest that police agencies could be liable for 
money they unilaterally hand over to federal agencies, two attorneys said 
Friday.

Although it is unclear whether the decisions are retroactive, they apply to 
any pending cases or those that are still under an appeal time limit, they 
said.

James McMullin, attorney for Karpierz, said he expected "a whole flurry of 
cases to be filed," adding that he had already received more than a 
half-dozen calls about cases in which police had seized money since the 
appellate decision had been handed down in November.

McMullin said the law needed to be researched to determine whether a 
statute of limitations existed, and if not, judges would have to establish 
that.

Dan Viets, a Columbia attorney who has handled several forfeiture cases, 
said he believed the decisions clearly applied to police agencies in 
current cases.

Viets said police had broadly violated forfeiture law in Missouri. "The 
courts are finally putting a stop to it," he said.

Dale Close, the Kansas City Police Department's chief legal counsel, 
declined to comment after Friday's hearing.

An attorney for the Missouri Highway Patrol said he would research the 
decision Friday but did not return a phone call.
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