• One city attorney called his legal documents a “masterpiece of deception” and has won 96 percent of his forfeiture cases. • An assistant district attorney takes property, even from owners who have been acquitted, because “people are not found innocent, they are found not guilty.” • One government official doesn’t want to disclose information about civil forfeiture, because it might become a “bullet-point for people that are trying to fight the program.” • A prosecutor teaches other attorneys how to take property from innocent people. He even offers this piece of advice, “IF IN DOUBT…TAKE IT!” Pete Connelly, City Attorney for Las Cruces, New Mexico, detailed his plan that would let police take the homes of people caught with tiny amounts of marijuana, even in states where the plant is legal “we always try to get, every once in a while, maybe a good car.” He recounted how police tried to seize a 2008 Mercedes-Benz, during a stakeout at a bar: “The cops were undercover and were like ‘Ahhh!’” when they saw it. Had police forfeited the Benz, it would have been “the big seller” at a police auction. But they acted too hastily and so the car was ultimately returned to its owner.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 01:02:17 +0000
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