Posted on 05/18/2016 11:31:20 AM PDT by John Semmens
Guillermo Espinoza's efforts to retrieve $19,894 seized by Arkansas State Police were brought to an abrupt halt by Judge Chris Williams. State prosecutors asked that the money be returned to Espinoza since no criminal charges were being pursued against him. Williams rejected this request on the grounds that Espinoza had missed the 10-day deadline for filing the papers to initiate restitution.
As Williams sees it, "the rules on civil forfeiture are clearly spelled out in statute. Whether or not Mr. Espinoza was or wasn't engaged in any illegal activity is irrelevant. Arkansas law gives the government the right to seize assets it deems may have a connection to a crime. Even if that connection turns out to be illusory, the procedure for reclaiming the seized assets is specified. Mr. Espinoza failed to adhere to that procedure. Thus, the State cannot return the money to him."
"The civil forfeiture statute is not inextricably tied to the fate of any criminal investigation or prosecution," Williams pointed out. "Over the history of this statute it has transferred over $80 million into the state treasury. Acquiring revenues is also a legitimate function of government. For me to deviate from the civil forfeiture statute in pursuit of some notion of judicial fairness would abrogate this important revenue-raising function of the law. That is beyond my powers as a judge."
As an aside, the Judge speculated that "it is by no means certain that the public good would be better served by according Mr. Espinoza a just resolution of his case. The private uses to which he might put the money might easily be eclipsed by the public good that can be done by having the State spend that money on purposes of broader social benefit to all Arkansans."
if you missed any of this week's other semi-news/semi-satire posts you can find them at...
http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,206549.0.html
I Googled the real story and it’s horrible to think that the police can commit armed robbery and just get away with it.
Reviving the privilege of seizing whatever it wants from the “peasants” is one of the “reforms” that modern government has given us.
Even worse that they impose only a 10 day statute of limitations. I hope this is mostly satire. Otherwise if I were an Arkansas resident, I might get my gun...
this judge needs to be removed.
this judge needs to be removed.
Sadly, it is not much of a satire.
Arkansas has codified armed robbery. People who travel through Arkansas should then be prepared to treat Arkansas cops the same way they’d treat Mexican Federales or the police of any other corrupt country.
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