Pubdate: Sun, 03 Aug 2014
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2014 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233
Page: 2D

ASSET FORFEITURE

With so much of Washington preoccupied with increasing federal power
at the expense of our rights - think IRS, NSA, DEA, and on and on -
it's cause for celebration when someone suggests decreasing government
power to protect our rights.

Now comes Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who seeks to end the racket known as
asset forfeiture.

The federal government and state and local authorities use asset
forfeiture laws to seize the property of criminal suspects. Although
the people who have their assets seized are presumed innocent until
proved guilty, their property does not enjoy due process protections.
If police and prosecutors merely suspect that your assets were
obtained or used in the commission of a crime, they can take the
property from you. And to get your property back, whether it's cash, a
car, a cellphone or a house, defendants have the burden of proving the
property was obtained and used lawfully.

Worse, police need not even arrest a suspect to seize property. It's
all too common for police to pull over motorists, especially along
routes favored by drug traffickers, conduct dubious searches that lack
probable cause and threaten people with arrest if they don't hand over
their possessions and money. Agencies then use the assets they seize
to fund police operations and equipment purchases, giving them a
lucrative incentive to steal from law-abiding citizens.

Two federal lawsuits filed earlier this year in Reno allege the
Humboldt County Sheriff's Department took tens of thousands of dollars
from motorists without having any evidence of wrongdoing, and without
so much as writing a citation.

In late July, Sen. Paul introduced the Fifth Amendment Integrity
Restoration Act, which would shift the burden of proof back to the
state. The government would have to prove, with actual evidence, that
assets were obtained or used in the commission of a crime before it
could seize the property. And it would direct assets seized by federal
agencies into the U.S. Treasury's general fund, not agency coffers.

As The Washington Post's Radley Balko reports, in joint federal-state
probes, the bill also requires that states' asset forfeiture laws
supersede federal law, which is often looser.

This is the kind of legislation Congress should work to pass.
Americans are tired of overreaching federal authority. It's no
coincidence that Sen. Paul also has sponsored legislation to block the
federal government from prosecuting medical marijuana patients in
states (such as Nevada) where the drug is legal if prescribed by a
doctor.

Stop the shakedowns, Congress. Pass the FAIR Act.
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MAP posted-by: Matt