tman wrote:mrp wrote:XDM45 wrote:2) Just because you *CAN* do something legally, doesn't mean you *SHOULD* do it.
Examples of perfectly legal things you can do, but shouldn't include, but aren't exclusively limited to:
a) Carrying a large sum of money (anything over a few hundred bucks)
Not so fast, citizen.
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/12/1296.aspFederal Appeals Court: Driving With Money is a Crime
Eighth Circuit Appeals Court ruling says police may seize cash from motorists even in the absence of any evidence that a crime has been committed.
US Court of Appeals, Eighth CircuitA federal appeals court ruled yesterday that if a motorist is carrying large sums of money, it is automatically subject to confiscation. In the case entitled, "United States of America v. $124,700 in U.S. Currency," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit took that amount of cash away from Emiliano Gomez Gonzolez, a man with a "lack of significant criminal history" neither accused nor convicted of any crime.
Let's look at the ACTUAL decision:
http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2006/moneyseize.pdfThe route and circumstances of Gonzolez’s travel were highly suspicious.
Gonzolez had flown on a one-way ticket, which we have previously acknowledged
is evidence in favor of forfeiture, see United States v. U.S. Currency in the Amount
of $150,660.00, 980 F.2d 1200, 1206 (8th Cir. 1992), and he gave a vague
explanation, attributed to advice from an unidentified third person, about why he
elected to return by car. Gonzolez purportedly carried $125,000 in cash with him on
his flight, for the purpose of buying a truck that he had never seen, from a third party
whom he had never met, with the help of a friend whose name he could not recall at
trial. This testimony does not inspire confidence in the innocence of the conduct.
When he was stopped by the Nebraska State Patrol, Gonzolez was driving a rental car
that was leased in the name of another person who was not present, another
circumstance that gives rise to suspicion. Then, when Gonzolez was questioned by
officers, he lied about having money in the car and about the names of his friends,
thus giving further reason to question the legitimacy of the currency’s presence. See
$117,920.00 in U.S. Currency, 413 F.3d at 829. The totality of these circumstances
– the large amount of concealed currency, the strange travel pattern, the inability to
identify a key party in the purported innocent transaction, the unusual rental car
papers, the canine alert, and the false statements to law enforcement officers – leads
most naturally to the inference that Gonzolez was involved in illegal drug activity,
and that the currency was substantially connected to it.
While the claimants’ explanation for these circumstances may be “plausible,”
we think it is unlikely. We therefore conclude that the government proved by a
preponderance of the evidence that the defendant currency was substantially
connected to a narcotics offense. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the district
court and remand for further proceedings.
I did read the decision, and I agreed with the dissenting judge. The money may very well have been drug money, but the government did not prove that it was, and took it anyway.
LAY, Circuit Judge, dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Although the circumstantial evidence offered by the government provides some indication that the money seized in this case may be related to criminal activity, I cannot agree that the government has proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, the requisite substantial connection between the currency and a controlled substance offense.
Notwithstanding the fact that claimants seemingly suspicious activities were reasoned away with plausible, and thus presumptively trustworthy, explanations which the government failed to contradict or rebut, I note that no drugs, drug paraphernalia, or drug records were recovered in connection with the seized money. There is no evidence claimants were ever convicted of any drug-related crime, nor is there any indication the manner in which the currency was bundled was indicative of drug use or distribution. At most, the evidence presented suggests the money seized may have been involved in some illegal activity – activity that is incapable of being ascertained on the record before us. See United States v. U.S. Currency, $30,060.00, 39 F.3d 1039, 1044 (9th Cir. 1994) (“[A] mere suspicion of illegal activity is not enough to establish . . . that the money was connected to drugs.”).
The law of our circuit makes clear that the possession of a large amount of cash provides strong evidence of a connection between the res and illegal drug activity. Yet this fact is not dispositive. A faithful reading of the cases cited by the majority from our court reveal that we have required some additional nexus between the property seized and drug activity to support forfeiture. In United States v. U.S. Currency, in the Amount of $150,660.00, 980 F.2d 1200 (8th Cir. 1992), we recognized such a nexus where the investigating officer immediately smelled marijuana upon inspecting the currency. Id.at 1203, 1206. In United States v. $84,615 in U.S. Currency, 379 F.3d 496 (8th Cir. 2004), we concluded forfeiture was proper where the owner of the seized currency “undisputedly possessed illegal drugs at the time” the currency was discovered. Id.at 502. Most recently, in United States v. $117,920.00 in United States Currency, 413 F.3d 826 (8th Cir. 2005), we determined that forfeiture was warranted where materials known to be used to package and conceal drugs were recovered in close physical proximity to the seized currency, and where the investigating officer detected the smell of marijuana on some of these materials. Id.at 829.
Here, the only evidence linking the seized money to illegal drug activity is a canine sniff that alerted officers to the presence of narcotics on the currency itself and the exterior of the rear passenger side of the rental car where the currency was discovered. However, as Justice Souter recently recognized, a large percentage of currency presently in circulation contains trace amounts of narcotics. See Illinois v. Caballes, 543 U.S. 405, 410-12 (2005) (Souter, J. dissenting). As a result, this fact is virtually “meaningless and likely quite prejudicial.” United States v. Carr, 25 F.3d 1194, 1216 (3d Cir. 1994) (Becker, J., concurring). Our decision in $84,615 in U.S. Currency to afford this evidence only “slight” weight is thus well-founded, and this factor, taken in conjunction with the large amount of currency seized, does not favor forfeiture. Finally, the mere fact that the canine alerted officers to the presence of drug residue in a rental car, no doubt driven by dozens, perhaps scores, of patrons during the course of a given year, coupled with the fact that the alert came from the same location where the currency was discovered, does little to connect the money to a controlled substance offense. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.
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