Watchdog San Diego County's top three law enforcement agencies issued statements Thursday saying none of the abuses cited in an American Civil Liberties Union analysis of the federal asset forfeiture program occurred locally. The agencies, the San Diego police and sheriff's departments and the District Attorney's Office, participated in more seized-asset cases over the past 14 years than any other law enforcement organization in California, the ACLU report said. "None of the alleged cases of abuse in the ACLU report involve a law enforcement agency from San Diego County," the District Attorney's Office statement said. "The U.S. Department of Justice has determined that the San Diego County DA's Office complies with the national code of professional conduct for asset forfeiture, which states the Constitution and federal statutes prohibit the improper use of personal characteristics such as race, color, national origin, gender or religion to target individuals for law enforcement action." [continues 187 words]
Days Officials Would Have to Notify Property Owners of Seizure A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would rewrite the rules on civil asset forfeiture, the federal program that allows police officers and sheriff's deputies to seize cash and property from people who have not been arrested or convicted. Thirteen members of Congress joined to sponsor the legislation, which they called the Due Process Act of 2016. "Civil forfeiture remains one of the greatest assaults to property rights and due process in America today," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, one of the representatives to co-introduce the bill. "What was once intended to ensure drug dealers couldn't keep the fruits of their illegal activities has now become grossly misused." [continues 518 words]
A new report from American Civil Liberties Union says the federal government's civil asset-forfeiture program disproportionately affects minorities and poor people. The program allows law enforcement agencies to seize cash and property from suspects without an arrest or conviction. The advocacy group found that almost half of the seizures by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in California involve people with Latino surnames, calling it an "ongoing attack" on people of color. Federal drug officials said they had not been given a chance to review the group's analysis, but that the pattern seems to simply reflect their fight against Latin American drug cartels. [continues 948 words]
Senator Criticizes Agency's Response 3 Years After Ucsd Student Nearly Died in Holding Cell Three years ago this week, Daniel Chong made news around the world when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration admitted that its agents accidentally left him in a temporary cell for five days without food or water. The former University of California San Diego engineering student was back in the national headlines Tuesday when U.S. senators grilled the DEA during a Capitol Hill hearing on details about the Chong case and other well-publicized blunders. [continues 931 words]
Long before college student Daniel Chong nearly died after being left in a holding cell without food or water for five days in 2012, federal drug officials in San Diego knew their detention practices were deficient. According to the Inspector General's Office of the U.S. Department of Justice, which just concluded a two-year probe into what happened to Chong, managers in the Drug Enforcement Administration's San Diego field division were warned about the problems but had not corrected them. [continues 783 words]
Student Who Nearly Died in Holding Cell Got $4.1 Million Four federal drug agents saw or heard Daniel Chong during the five days he was handcuffed in a holding cell without food or water after a 2012 narcotics sweep, a U.S. Department of Justice report released on Tuesday found. The agents did nothing because they assumed someone else was responsible for the detainee, and because there was no training for agents on how to track and monitor wards at the Kearny Mesa detention center, the report found. [continues 994 words]
District Attorney's Funding Grants to Prosecutors' Group at Issue The U.S. Department of Justice will withhold as much as $30,000 in grants to San Diego County because of a disagreement over spending of money and assets seized in criminal cases. District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has granted tens of thousands of dollars from forfeited assets to the California District Attorneys Association, a professional group. The subject of the dispute is $29,400 of federal funds that went for an office lease for the prosecutors group. Dumanis is active in the statewide education and advocacy organization and has served as its president and vice president. [continues 706 words]
Daniel Chong, the self-confessed pot smoker who was caught up in a drug sweep last year and nearly died after federal agents inadvertently abandoned him in a holding cell for five days without food or water, is now a millionaire. Attorney Eugene Iredale announced Tuesday he reached a $4.1 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, without even filing a lawsuit. "What happened to Daniel Chong should never happen to any human being on the face of the planet," Iredale said. [continues 674 words]
The top federal drug agent in San Diego issued an apology Wednesday to the UC San Diego student left for days in a cell without food or water, even as federal lawmakers began demanding answers and the detainee filed a $20 million claim against the U.S. government. The five-page negligence filing obtained by The Watchdog states that Daniel Chong, 23, nearly died as a result of the ordeal. It calls on all federal agencies to preserve any evidence related to the case, including video, interview notes and reports. [continues 558 words]
SAN DIEGO -- On the first day qualified medical-marijuana patients were allowed to seek county identification cards, 17 people turned up at the public health office near Old Town to apply. County officials set aside a special wing in the Rosecrans Avenue office of the Health and Human Services Agency to accommodate applicants, but at mid-day today the information and records clerks were all but sitting idle. "We wanted to be ready for them if they showed up en masse," said Adrienne Yancey, an assistant deputy director for public health services. [continues 152 words]
Councilwoman: City Can Clarify Policies SAN DIEGO -- Pot collectives keep opening across San Diego, and Councilwoman Donna Frye keeps getting asked how constituents can acquire medical marijuana without being arrested. So Frye thinks there's no better time to re-establish the city's medical marijuana task force, a long-dormant committee that earlier this decade developed guidelines to help patients follow state medical pot laws. People have a right to be provided with the information that will allow them to comply with the law that voters approved," Frye said. "It may be a matter of common sense, but it's also an issue of compassion for people who are legitimate patients who should not have to live under a cloud of fear." [continues 402 words]
With the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal last week to consider San Diego County's lawsuit against state medical-marijuana laws, local officials appear poised to begin offering identification cards to qualified patients. The government-issued ID will help protect patients, activists say, but without a law enforcement-approved way to distribute medical marijuana, sick and dying people still face the threat of arrest and prosecution. Not only that, but a growing number of storefront medical-marijuana dispensaries in San Diego will likely test the tolerance that police and prosecutors have for providers of the drug. [continues 689 words]
Board Wants to Resolve State-Federal Conflict Despite batting .000 against a lineup of lawyers and judges across California, San Diego County is pressing its long-shot lawsuit against state medical marijuana laws toward the U.S. Supreme Court. The Board of Supervisors voted to petition the nation's top court even before the California Supreme Court declined Oct. 16 to hear the county's argument that the state laws should be overturned. For nearly three years, the supervisors have persisted in their legal fight rather than direct county health officials to issue identification cards to qualified medical marijuana patients as required by state law. [continues 990 words]
State High Court Won't Hear Case The California Supreme Court yesterday declined to consider the latest appeal from San Diego County in its years-long effort to resist state medical marijuana laws. "This is a resounding victory for seriously ill Californians and for California voters," said Adam Wolf of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is co-defending the case along with the state Attorney General's Office and the advocacy group Americans for Safe Access. "It's an affirmation of the legitimacy of state medical marijuana laws." [continues 283 words]
Court Backs ID-Card Law on Medical Marijuana San Diego County has lost its latest court fight against a state law requiring counties to issue government identification to qualified medical marijuana patients. In a 39-page ruling yesterday, the 4th District Court of Appeal said San Diego and San Bernardino counties have no legal authority to resist the identification card program. The counties had argued that issuing government identification to medical marijuana patients would violate federal drug laws that categorize marijuana as one of the most dangerous known drugs. [continues 462 words]
Nineteen months after a judge rejected San Diego County's lawsuit against the state of California seeking to overturn medical marijuana laws, government lawyers are returning to court to argue their appeals. In a case being watched closely by counties around the state, oral arguments are scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday in a 4th District Court of Appeal courtroom in downtown San Diego. The panel of judges is not expected to issue an immediate ruling. Instead, a decision likely will be handed down sometime this summer. [continues 558 words]
City Files Amicus Brief for Medical ID Cards In the legal tug of war between the county and state over medical marijuana, the city of San Diego has sided with Sacramento and voters. Lawyers from the City Attorney's Office have filed an amicus brief in the lawsuit between San Diego County and the state Department of Justice. County supervisors hope a panel of appellate judges will relieve them of their obligation under state law to issue identification cards to qualified patients. [continues 661 words]
Supervisors Again Cite Clash With Federal Law A week after a Superior Court judge threw out their case against California's medical-marijuana laws, San Diego County's supervisors have voted to appeal the ruling. The case will be sent to the 4th District Court of Appeal, with county lawyers again arguing that San Diego County should not have to enforce state laws that conflict with federal laws. Superior Court Judge William R. Nevitt Jr. "kind of gave us the politically correct opinion that we ignored the will of the voters," Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Horn said. "Maybe the 4th District will give us an answer." [continues 308 words]
Ruling Rejecting County Suit Upheld A Superior Court judge refused to overturn California's medical marijuana laws yesterday, upholding last month's preliminary ruling that rejected San Diego County's lawsuit against the state. Judge William R. Nevitt Jr. ruled that state law enforcement officials are not obligated to arrest and prosecute people who violate federal laws. The ruling favored the state and a handful of patients and advocacy groups that joined the case after it was filed early this year. [continues 360 words]
In Tentative Ruling, Argument Is Called Less Than Persuasive A Superior Court judge yesterday rejected a claim by San Diego County that California's medical-marijuana laws directly conflict with federal drug statutes. The tentative ruling was issued hours before oral arguments were presented in the lawsuit that the county brought earlier this year against the state, which legalized the use of marijuana for health purposes a decade ago. Merced and San Bernardino counties later joined San Diego in the case, which is the first of its kind in California and is being closely watched by officials from Sacramento to Washington. [continues 942 words]
