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The search turned up less than $50 of marijuana and one Lunesta pill outside of the bottle that Greg had been prescribed.
Under Alabama’s civil asset forfeiture laws, which allow law enforcement to seize any property they allege is involved in a crime, Randolph County deputies seized approximately $8,000 in cash, firearms, jewelry, and other personal items from two safes inside the Almond home, according to court documents.
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Over a year later, the Almonds were indicted on unlawful possession of marijuana for personal use and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, both misdemeanor charges. Prior to this incident, neither Greg nor Teresa had any criminal history.
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1) Civil Forfeiture must end. It is simply state-sponsored robbery.
2) Congratulations, Drug Warriors!!! You got those eeevul pot smokers!
3) Police are their own worst enemies. The "profession" as a whole is no better than the worst psycho they tolerate in their midst. There seem to be a lot of psychos ...
I respectfully disagree its a valuable tool when used responsibly. The problem is its misapplication.
In this case the police had no probable cause to search the residency in the fist place. They broke the law. No trained LEO would have entered the hose without a warrant because anything they obtained would be rightly tossed out of court.
As for the Civil Forfeiture it was not predicated on any legal standard since the search was illegal.
Civil Forfeiture needs to be determined by a court not an agency. If the cops and prosecutors know they will have to go to court and justify their their seizure and forfeiture they will clean up their act. This is the current standard for federal law enforcement.
This is not hard to fix. I don't want the El Chapos or financial scammers of the world to keep their ill gotten gains.