Posted on 01/12/2002 8:17:18 PM PST by NC_Libertarian
Selling them pardons?
I remember this story well. It was one of the few asset seizure stories that got widely reported. It had nothing to do with drugs,though. A man had been arrested for "solicitation of prostitution" in a "John sting",and the police seized his car for resale based on that. His wife sued to get the car back,stating it was in her name too,and this amounted to a "unfair taking". Not surprisingly (the courts get a cut of asset seizure sales,too),the judge ruled against her,and ordered the criminal car sold.
BTW,Jay Leno and a few others got a LITTLE mileage out of this story from the jokes they told,but nobody really seemed to care. The story dissapeared after a couple of days.
ROFLMAO! Are you sure YOU'RE not on crack?
Buyers show interest in confiscated home
By Joan Stroer jstroer@onlineathens.com
One widow's tragedy is another person's treasure, it seems.
Police phones rang Friday with prospective home-buyers expressing interest in a $20,00 Athens house drug officers confiscated Thursday from Fannie Gresham, an 82-year-old widow accused of allowing illegal drug sales there.
Barring court reversals, the state now owns ''Ma's House,'' a tiny home on Julius Drive with a well-tended patch of collard greens in the backyard. Proceeds from a sale will be shared by police and the Western Circuit District Attorney, but Athens-Clarke Police Chief Jack Lumpkin said the rare step of home forfeiture was not taken for money.
A neighborhood watch group pushed for the government seizure after Gresham, known to neighbors as ''Ma,'' turned a deaf ear to warnings from friends, neighbors and police, Lumpkin said. Police predict more such seizures as they go after the drug trade in some of Athens' troubled neighborhoods.
''Miss Gresham has been warned numerous times,'' Lumpkin said Friday. ''The issue is for the neighbors to have some peace of mind, and a crime and drug-free neighborhood, where they're not threatened by drugs.''
Some 29 incidents of drug activity were noted by police at her property since 1992, and authorities say drug dealers were caught numerous times fetching drugs from the house for street sales.
Based on that, and police claims that the elder Gresham was helping her son's alleged operation, visiting Superior Court Judge Stephen Boswell issued a court order in December allowing the seizure. Gresham's son, 50-year-old Tommie Gresham, was arrested Thursday during the raid on a charge of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.
Boswell gave Fannie Gresham 14 days to move her belongings out of the small house, which she and her husband, Tom, built in the 1950s. Tom Gresham died in June. A hearing to delve into the facts of the case is scheduled for February in Clarke Superior Court.
Jim Smith, an attorney for both Greshams, said he plans to appeal the forfeiture of Gresham's home to the Georgia Court of Appeals, and he claims her son is innocent of Thursday's drug charge. The elder Gresham was away during the seizure, and is now staying with relatives. Smith described her as ''frail,'' and ''upset'' over the loss of her home.
''They're taking property without any factual basis whatsoever,'' he said. ''That's all she owned.''
How dare those Nazi neighbors for wanting a drug free neighborhood. /sarcasm
Anyway before I get out of the way of this circlejerk of a thread for the Libertarian/ACLU crowd on FR, I will ask you all one question.
Would you like to have this lady and her son as your next door neighbors?
You might want to see a doctor about that bump on your head.
Amen.
Agreed. Lets start with ritalin. I don't even think minors should drink coffee. I have a real problem with a society that teaches "drugs are bad" then proceeds to drug children. And don't think for a minute the incongruity is lost on our children.
Better them than you. You and your type are clearly more dangerous to society.
This guy isn't exactly as sharp as a tack. Hopefully he didn't take this non exact approach in arguing the case.
These land takings are bogus. It has turned into trophy collecting for some law enforcement agencies. Seizure laws need to be reversed in their application. Meaning that reasonable doubt should be the threshold for the landowner to retain property and that the trial should occur prior to the taking.
However, the rural property that was confiscated did not seem like a danger was present to the community. This was an example of lazy law enforcement expecting law abiding citizens to do their job.
by Robert E Boczkiewicz
Oklahoma
DENVER -- A 68-year-old Tulsa widow who bought a rural acreage with benefits she received as the spouse of a man listed as missing in action in Vietnam will lose it because she allegedly allowed her son to grow marijuana there, a divided appeals court ruled Thursday. The federal government will be allowed to take Ozella Scott's land under a drug enforcement law, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1.
Her attorney, James C. Linger of Tulsa, said the land in nearby Bixby consists of 25 or 30 acres. He said he thinks the appraised value is about $30,000.
Scott was not charged with any crime. She put up a legal fight to stop the forfeiture of her property, arguing she was the innocent owner of the land.
A federal Bureau of Indian Affairs agent and an Oklahoma Air National Guard pilot were killed Aug. 28, 1995, when their helicopter crashed while they were conducting drug surveillance over the land.
Scott's son, Mark, was arrested later that day for marijuana crimes on the property where he lived in a trailer.
The two appellate judges who decided Scott should lose ownership of her land concluded she had turned a blind eye to her son's illegal activities on her property.
"Congress has placed strict duties upon landowners to rid their property of drug activity," they wrote in an 11-page decision. "The fact that the occupant was Ms. Scott's son does not relieve her of her duties as a landowner to take all reasonable steps to keep her property free of illegal activities."
She denied she had allowed him to engage in marijuana growing and cited her efforts against his illegal activities.
The other judge, who wrote a seven-page dissent, said the lower court judge should have allowed a jury to determine whether evidence proved that Scott was "willfully blind" to her son's criminal conduct. She did not live on the property.
The lower court judge, James Ellison of U.S. District Court in Tulsa, granted a summary judgment in favor of the federal government, concluding there was no need for a jury trial.
Scott's husband, who was shot down over Vietnam, was declared dead after several years listed as missing in action, Linger said. Scott received government benefits as the surviving widow and used the money to buy the land.
Mark Allen was convicted of several crimes connected to his marijuana- growing activities on the land. Police caught him with five marijuana plants, 1.4 pounds of marijuana and items allegedly used in drug activity.
He testified he tried to conceal his criminal activity from his mother.
The U.S. attorney in Tulsa initiated the forfeiture proceedings against her. The law allows a judge to give the government ownership of property "used, or intended to be used . . . to commit, or to facilitate" a drug crime.
> He testified he tried to conceal his criminal activity from his mother.
Maybe the guberment should buy everyone a four wheel drive quad, so this old lady could patrol the land
Also a uniform would be nice --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Show me the Article, Section or Amendment that requires landowners to be law enforcement officers. Show me, I'm waiting ... Ahh, I see. There really isn't any, but the Constitution is a "living document", open to interpretation as is politically fitting.
Stalin would be proud ...
With the UGA constantly expanding, businesses wanting more parking (parking is the major problem in Athens) the key is location..location...location!
A lot of the older houses are along the Oconee River which the city wants for "greenspace".
The husband of a girl in my office works for a newspaper. I'll see what I can find out tomorrow.
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Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
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