IJ is currently defending a college student who had his entire life savings seized by the DEA, despite not being charged with a drug crime, and has thwarted an attempt by the federal government to forfeit a $1.5 million property in Anaheim, simply because the landlord rented space to a medical marijuana dispensary, which sold four grams of cannabis to an undercover officer.
53 (D.R.I. 1995) (government may conduct post-trial discovery to determine location and identity of forfeitable assets; post-trial discovery resulted in discovery of gold bars buried in defendant's mother's backyard several years after the entry of an order directing the defendant to forfeit all property, up to $137 million, involved in his money laundering offense).
Any officer of Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement may seize and forfeit any property that has been or is being used in the commission of a violation of any statutory authority involving the unlawful introduction of aliens, contraband or proceeds of such introduction, pursuant to, but not limited to, section 274(a) of the Act (8 U.S.C. 1324 a)).
Citizens should not forfeit their property unless convicted of a crime; and the proceeds should fund the state as a whole, not the arm that does the grabbing.Bang!
She also notes that since he is "an alien" who schemed to take the life of a Venetian, he must forfeit his property and fortune.
p. 528) 'that a compulsory production of a man's private papers to establish a criminal charge against him, or to forfeit his property, is within the scope of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution, in all cases in which a search and seizure would be,' and that the order in question was an unreasonable search and seizure within that amendment.
As published, the rule would have permitted the trial judge to order the defendant to forfeit the property in its entirety if no third party filed a claim.
Law enforcement agencies can forfeit property based on a mere "preponderance of the evidence," which is a much less stringent standard than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard used in criminal convictions.
In deciding that issue I cannot, however, approach the question formally, as the plaintiff wishes; as to say that there was a user before the patent, and therefore the patent could not forfeit this property right, or that there was never any intention to abandon the trade-mark and so it must have continued.
Prisoners no longer forfeit their property or their rights when the gates close behind them.
