CALIFORNIA State's high court declares 1995 car-seizure law is constitutional

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 1/12/6 | Bob Egelko

[SmithL]

A California law allowing police to seize cars for up to 30 days if the driver has a suspended license or no license at all is constitutional, a state appeals court ruled Thursday, overturning a decision by a Sonoma County judge.

Police have used the 1995 law to impound thousands of vehicles whose drivers lacked valid licenses, according to legislative findings quoted by the court.

Judge Lawrence Antolini of Sonoma County Superior Court declared the law unconstitutional in March 2004 and also invalidated a separate law allowing police to impound cars for 30 days if they are involved in illegal drag races.

Antolini said the laws were vague because they allowed a driver to argue for release of a car sooner than 30 days based on mitigating circumstances, but failed to define those circumstances. As a result, he said, owners had no way of knowing how to regain their vehicles quickly, and police had few limits on their authority to keep a vehicle impounded.

In Thursday's ruling, however, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said the laws and past court rulings offered enough guidance for how people might get their cars back in less than 30 days.

[So Cal Rocket]

California Constitution: Article 1, Section 7 (a):

"A person may not be deprived of life, liberty, or
property without due process of law."


A quite simple clause... how can it be construed to allow a police agency to impound your car for any reason without "due process" - which means that a court has ruled?

[VU4G10]

I guess the illegal aliens have to take the bus now.\

[Jim Verdolini]

The courts are rotten...have been for years

[Cheapskate]

Are you sure that will be in effect for the illegals?

[beelzepug]

Apparently they think merely passing a law constitutes due process. A scary notion, don't you think?

[dcrider182]

Well if that court says it is ok. appeal it all the way to the Supreme court of the land. Supreme Court FO Appeals in DC.. lets see what they say about it.

~D

[radar101]

For all the whiners, anti-police, and MY FREEDOM FIRST posters:

A. This is the only way to keep Illegal Aliens from driving.
B. This will make sure that insurance will pay if this car is in a crash with YOU!
[ STANDARD INSURANCE SELF-EXEMPTION:If the driver is unlicensed, our insurance company will not pay one cent!]
C. Police Departments have to require officers to impound cars with unlicensed drivers.
WHY?
Because of vicious, parasitical ATTORNEYS: If the Officer is a (stupid) nice guy, lets the unlicensed driver drive away, and the unlicensed driver later gets in a crash, the Officer, his department, and his employer ( City, County State) WILL be sued. (there goes YOUR tax money!)

[eraser2005]

Its interesting to me the number of people complaining here about the idea that the car could be seized if you're driving on a suspended license or have no license.

Its as if they forget that operating a vehicle under a suspended license or no license is a crime. How about they just release the people and let them drive off, committing the same crime again? Maybe just follow them for a block and write another ticket. And another. And another.

The number of deaths caused by drivers without licenses or suspended licenses is absurd. 20% of all fatal crashes are caused by these people, according to AAA. They are 3.7 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident (4.9 times if they didn't ever have a license).

42,049 people died between 1993 and 1997 because of these drivers.

[Uncle Hal]

I live in Sonoma County. The cops have been impounding illegals cars here when they are stopped and have no license. Now, from what I read in the papers, they are going to stop this and give the car back to the illegals if they have a legally licensed driver to drive the car home. Evidently selling the impounded cars to illegals is a big business in the this area. So this means the illegals return to driving with no license and no insurance and we all pay the added cost in increased insurance bills.