Widow sees 3 deadlines pass, wants guns ATF took in raid

BODY: It appears federal authorities haven't followed the law in their efforts to keep seven guns from the widow of a man killed in an ATF-organized raid.

Thus far, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and U.S. prosecutors have missed at least three deadlines mandated by federal law concerning seized property.

This failure to act in a timely fashion leaves Tammy Wilson, 43, wondering why the ATF is even bothering to fight her for the weapons, especially since it's been 1 1/2 years since the raid. Wilson has been trying to get the firearms returned ever since her husband, Carl, 60, was shot to death by a regional SWAT team on Jan. 12, 2001, at the couple's rural home in Faulkner County.

The ATF requested the surprise, pre-dawn raid after getting a search warrant for a .30-30 Winchester rifle that belonged to Carl Wilson, who, as an ex-convict, wasn't supposed to own guns. Carl Wilson died in a shootout with the officers, who burst into his home and seized several weapons.

Authorities have repeatedly said the case is closed but have never explained why the raid was necessary or disclosed any details of the investigation. An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette report revealed that regional and federal law-enforcement officers were attracted by stories from squabbling family members of large-scale drug dealing, though no significant amount of drugs was ever found.

Tammy Wilson was never part of the investigation that prompted the raid, nor has she ever been convicted of a felony. As Carl Wilson's widow, she believes the guns should go to her. If the government succeeds in keeping them, the weapons will be destroyed or become service weapons for lawmen. Both prospects gall Tammy Wilson.

"I think it's sad that I have to fight to get my guns back," she said. "I've done nothing [wrong]. Carl is dead. Case is closed. So what's the problem?"

The guns range from an old double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun that belonged to Tammy Wilson's grandfather to Carl Wilson's beloved Winchester to a Mauser rifle that once belonged to Carl Wilson's grandfather. A fourth gun, a .38-caliber Davis Industries pistol, is registered in Tammy Wilson's name, she said, adding incredulously, "And I can't even have that one?"

Not listed in any of the government documents in the case is the .44-caliber Magnum that Carl Wilson used to shoot at police. Tammy Wilson wants that gun back, too.

The government's attempt to keep the guns is only the latest move in a long-running case that remains shrouded in secrecy despite a court challenge by the Democrat-Gazette that ultimately reshaped a suppression rule of local-level federal courts.

The case has been assigned to District Judge William R. Wilson's court. No hearing dates have been set.

Defense attorneys who specialize in forfeiture law say federal authorities should be forced to give back the guns because of the missed deadlines. None of the lawyers represent Tammy Wilson. Despite the attorneys' contentions, it's difficult to predict what a judge will do.

"You're dealing with the interpretation of a fairly new law," said Little Rock lawyer Jeff Rosenzweig, referring to the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000.

WHY KEEP THE GUNS? Bud Cummins, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, said he won't discuss deadlines or why he wants to keep the guns from Tammy Wilson. "I'm not really able to comment on that beyond what's in any filings."

Jeff Brzozowski, who in January became the Little Rock ATF bureau's resident agent in charge, said he is not familiar enough with the case to comment.

An ATF agent in the New Orleans office, which oversees the Little Rock bureau, referred questions to agents based in Washington, D.C., which is where some of the documents sent to Tammy Wilson originated.

Geneva Dunaway, the Washington office's special agent in charge in the area of assets, forfeitures and seized property, said that while the case "rings bells," it's one of thousands that crosses her desk, and she doesn't feel comfortable in commenting on it.

"I don't have the file in front of me," she said, adding that she couldn't say whether deadlines had been met or missed. "They may have been met and just not appear to have been met." The court documents filed by prosecutors note that Carl Wilson was a felon in possession of guns, and immediately after the raid, Tammy Wilson told authorities that the weapons they had seized were her husband's.

The documents cite the government's right to seize the guns under 18 U.S.C., Section 922 (g)(1), which says it's against the law for an ex-convict to have a gun.

Carl Wilson did several stints in prison during the 1960s on burglary, robbery and auto-theft convictions. He served about five years.

Also cited in the government's court filings is 18 U.S.C. Section 924 (d)(1), which dictates when and how seized property can be kept by the government.

However, this portion of law also says if the defendant is acquitted or if the charges against him are dismissed, the seized property goes back to him or to a person delegated by him unless doing so would place the owner or possessor in violation of the law.

No charges were ever filed after the raid. Prosecutors and law-enforcement officers have said repeatedly that the case is closed. The law cited in the government's court filings further states: "Any action or proceeding for the forfeiture of firearms or ammunition shall be commenced within one hundred and twenty days of such seizure."

The raid was on Jan. 12, 2001. But it wasn't until November 2001, 10 months after the raid, that Tammy Wilson received a forfeiture notice from the ATF. And it wasn't until March 7 of this year that prosecutors took their first action in the court system. There are two other missed deadlines as well -- those specified in the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000, which was initiated over concerns that the government had too much leeway in seizing property from citizens.

E.E. "Bo" Edwards, a Little Rock native who is chairman of a task force on forfeiture abuse for the National Association of Criminal Lawyers, said one or both of those missed dates in the reform act could be the crux of the case.

MISSED DEADLINES The clock began running the moment the firearms were seized on Jan. 12, 2001. From that date, the government had 60 days to give Tammy Wilson written notice that it was seeking forfeiture of the guns.

But Tammy Wilson didn't receive a letter from a "seizure and forfeiture specialist" with the ATF in Washington, D.C., until Nov. 15, 2001, and that was only after she had made several phone calls to the ATF in Little Rock and U.S. prosecutors in the Eastern District of Arkansas.

The letter, which informed her that the government was seeking to forfeit the guns, was dated Sept. 21, 2001. Why it took so long to get to her is unclear.

That is 252 days after the raid, if Sept. 21, 2001, is used as a starting point -- well beyond the federally mandated 60 days. However, Edwards and Rosenzweig agree that there is some wiggle room for the government, primarily because Tammy Wilson failed to ask for the weapons' return in writing before the 60 days were up. The phone calls she made don't count, Edwards said.

But the second missed deadline will be much more difficult for the government to justify, Edwards said. "If they missed it, she gets the property back, and they can't pursue it."

This second missed deadline occurred after Tammy Wilson sent several letters last November to the ATF's Washington, D.C., offices and to U.S. attorneys for the Eastern District of Arkansas. In those letters, she demanded the return of her property. Once a citizen makes a written claim on property confiscated by the federal government, U.S. attorneys have 90 days to file a complaint in which they ask the courts to allow them to keep the items in question.

"A claim need not be made in any particular form," the law states. However, federal agencies must make claim forms available if someone asks for them.

If the government misses the 90-day deadline, it "shall promptly release the property and may not take any further action to effect the civil forfeiture of such property in connection with the underlying offense," the law states.

Tammy Wilson sent formal, written claims on two occasions. On Nov. 26, 2001, she sent two identical demands for return of property to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Arkansas, according to certified mail receipts. The signature-confirmation slips show that the U.S. Attorney's Office received them on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29, 2001.

On Nov. 29, 2001, receipts show that Tammy Wilson used Federal Express to send overnight a similar demand for the return of her property to the ATF's Washington, D.C., office, the same office that sent her a forfeiture notice 252 days after the raid. Although both governmental entities received Tammy Wilson's claims, prosecutors didn't file a complaint seeking forfeiture with the court until March 7. That's 100 days from Nov. 28, 2001, the day they received Tammy Wilson's first claim.

And it's 98 days from Nov.30, 2001, when the ATF's D.C. offices got a similar claim.

'FAMILY HEIRLOOMS' Attorneys who offered input for this story said they couldn't guess why the ATF wants to hang on to the guns or what caused the delay in starting court proceedings.

Normally, even when someone is convicted, confiscated guns and other seized property are returned to family members once the items are no longer needed as evidence, says Little Rock defense attorney John Wesley Hall Jr.

That's why he is puzzled by the federal government's reluctance to let go of the guns. "Now that [Carl Wilson] is dead, there is no felon to return them to," he noted.

Hall suggested that Tammy Wilson try yet another route: "She can argue that [the guns] belong to his estate, which is not a criminal. That way they can pass to her or his kids."

Most puzzling to Tammy Wilson is that the ATF gave her one gun back last summer.

And on Sept. 25, 2001, ATF agents handed over a 16-gauge Ethica shotgun that had once belonged to her dad, Tammy Wilson says. The transaction took place in the lobby of the TCBY Building in downtown Little Rock, she says, where the ATF is headquartered.

"There's some family heirlooms there that they don't have the right to keep," she says. "I think it's enough that they killed my husband. I lost my job and home over this, and now I can't even get my guns back?"

"I think it's enough that they killed my husband. I lost my job and home over this, and now I can't even get my guns back?"

She continues off the record: "So I can take one or two a' my guns down to the Federal Courthouse and git a little justice of my own!"

Oh, wait. Sorry. I made the second part up.
Anyone got any views on the "ex-con/gun owner" issues?

You get that feeling that someone named in this article has the guns in his own personal collection, or maybe in the hands of some of his good buddies.

Probably be more bloodshed for the government agents to get them back!

TCBY Building in downtown Little Rock, she says, where the ATF is headquartered.

Wasn't Hillary on the Board of Directors at TCBY? Mere coincidence about the ATF office being in their building too....hmmmm.

Either that, or they just can't find them. Perhaps they were already "destroyed"? I guess the term "detstroyed" could imply more or less what you said to though!

As I see this, there are two reasons she can't have her guns back:

A) ...an old double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun that belonged to Tammy Wilson's grandfather>/b>

B) ... to Carl Wilson's beloved Winchester to a Mauser rifle that once belonged to Carl Wilson's grandfather.

These guns are just a tad bit worth some jack, Jack. And I'll bet you donuts to dollars somebody in the offending organization's seizure pipeline took a liking to both of 'em.

They just ain't there to give back to her and the BATF isn't gonna let it out that they have some thieves on the payroll.

The BATF is a poster child for government out of control. This "American Gestapo", which has bloated far beyond its original purpose of collecting taxes, has caused far more harm than good, should be depoliticized and reigned in ASAP. Once upon a time, ATF agents handled tax collection and wore suits. Now they are a freaky paramilitary federal police force, a degenerate, psychotic and violent mutation of the original bureau.

Let's get rid of these dangerous, abusive thugs and leave the no-knock raids and ninja suits to the FBI -- or preferably no one at all.

Imal

No doubt certain law and order freepers will cry "but if her husband hadn't been involved in crime, this wouldn't have happened!" blah blah blah... her husband is dead, the case is closed, and she is not an ex convict. She has every right to those guns, and, as usual, the BATF is wrong, out of control, and criminal.

Sometime in my lifetime, I would like to read where the BATF did something the general public supports. Those antics are long gone, probably into a retired or transfered BATF's agents safe

After reading this article it seems fairly obvious to me that the FG lost these guns somewhere.

They would not give her back one gun and not the others, and they are obviously in violation of the deadline.

The first thing she should demand is an opportunity to see the guns, even if she can't take possession of them. My guess is that the FG would say NO.

I don't know if you were aware that the gun that was used to kill Serena[Hispanic singer] was "accidently' taken home by one of the investigators. It was later given to Serena's survivors and destroyed.

These guns are just a tad bit worth some jack, Jack. And I'll bet you donuts to dollars somebody in the offending organization's seizure pipeline took a liking to both of 'em.

That's the way it looks to me, too. The collectibles are in someone's private collection, and they're giving the old gal the bureaucratic runaround, waiting for her to give up or die.

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