Posted on 02/27/2017 8:55:20 AM PST by MichCapCon
In a meeting between the new president and law enforcement officials, a Texas sheriff complained about legislation that would require a person be convicted of a crime before the state took ownership of his or her property. President Donald Trump, wrongly, disparaged legislators who support this reform to the forfeiture system.
Politico notes the exchange:
“On asset forfeiture, we’ve got a state senator in Texas that was talking about introducing legislation to require conviction before we could receive that forfeiture money,” [Sheriff Harold] Eavenson said.
“Can you believe that?” Trump interjected.
“And I told him that the cartel would build a monument to him in Mexico if he could get that legislation passed,” the Texas sheriff continued.
“Who is the state senator? Do you want to give his name? We’ll destroy his career,” Trump replied.
Forfeiture is the process by which the government transfers assets from people to the state. There are two types: criminal and civil. Criminal forfeiture is done after a conviction; civil can be done without a conviction and often without any charges being filed. Criminal forfeiture is a needed and necessary part of law enforcement. Civil forfeiture is an end-run around constitutional rights and should be abolished.
In Michigan, the fact that innocent people are losing their property to the state has been a big problem. But the move toward a solution has been bipartisan, with bills passed in 2015 and 2016 reforming state laws. The Legislature should take the final step and eliminate civil forfeiture altogether, replacing it with only criminal forfeiture.
I saw the video. I could only assume that Trump was “being agreeable” and in one of his “say one thing one day, and another the next day” moods.
Liar!!!
Enough of this innocent until proven guilty nonsense. We have a revenue shortfall and this guy has assets.
Don’t waste your time. Michigan Cap Con has done some good work but they dump their PR releases on FR as I assume they do other places on the web and never engage in any discussion or respond to messages.
Since they just use FR without engaging in any discussion, in my opinion they should be banned but I’m not the decider.
‘Civil forfeiture is an end-run around constitutional rights and should be abolished.’ DITTO
All we ask is due process equally applied. Is that too much?
Even liberal Oregon was smart enough to end civil forfeiture laws.
This quote sounds like complete nonsense.
Civil forfeiture turns our government into another criminal cartel.
Civil forfeiture is just regular theft under the color of law. And just what stops a crooked cop in anywhere USA from seeing me drive my beautifully restored car from coveting it, pulling me over, seizing it? Answer - nothing.
While it may be necessary to freeze some assets pending the outcome of a court case, no assets should be subject to forfeiture before a conviction occurs. Forfeitures should be handled on a case by case basis with extreme care taken to prevent unnecessary and unjustified seizures of the guilty party’s assets.
Any conservative that supports civil seizure is an enemy of the Constitution and not worth the powder and shot to blow them to hell.
Yes he is very wrong. Very misinformed on the matter and why it needs to be reined in.
It is flat out, "asset theft".
It is just as immoral for the state to steal as it is for individuals to do so.
No conviction, no forfeiture.
Oh I disagree. That particular “conservative” is especially worthy of as much powder as possible!
There should be a way to freeze such assets for a specific time until the charges can be subject to due process. Otherwise by the time the trial rolls around and the conviction is obtained there will be no assets to forfeit. Come to think of it, do real big-time criminals own anything in their own names anyway?
This is one that Trump and I just disagree on. I have always been opposed to civil forfeiture on principle.
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