cannabisnews.com: Support H.R. 1658 to Reform Civil Forfeiture! Support H.R. 1658 to Reform Civil Forfeiture! Posted by FoM on May 14, 1999 at 07:12:01 PT Source: DRC Net We're writing today to ask you to raise your voice to Congress on an issue of great and urgent importance. Under civil asset forfeiture, the government can take and keep the property of people who have been accused, but not convicted, of drug crimes, or whose property has been used without their knowledge to facilitate a drug crime; in 80 percent of forfeiture cases, charges are never even filed. The law is unjust and has had a profound corrupting effect on law enforcement. H.R. 1658, a bill with high-level bipartisan support -- Reps. Henry Hyde and John Conyers, chairman and ranking minority on the Judiciary Committee, and committee members Bob Barr and Barney Frank, will reform civil forfeiture and restore Constitutional due process of law. Please take two minutes to fill out our online forfeiture petition at:http://www.drcnet.org/forfeiture/Though it has strong support in the Judiciary Committee, H.R. 1658 is sure to meet resistance in the House, and needs support to get introduced and passed in the Senate. Nevertheless, it can be passed, this year, so your help is urgently needed. So please take action now! When you are done, please consider following up your Congressional e-mail with a phone call (phone number provided by our lobbying system), and then fill out our "tell your friends" form to spread the word about H.R. 1658. (We won't save your friends' e-mail addresses and won't send them any mail besides your referral.) Or just forward this alert to any interested parties and appropriate lists or forums.If you're not yet ready to act, maybe reading some asset forfeiture stories will help you make up your mind:* Kip Baker was staying at a friend's home in Anchorage, Alaska, when federal agents showed up at the door and informed him that his friend was involved in a marijuana-growing network and the government was taking the house and its contents. Baker was never charged with a crime, but agents seized his ivory collection, the heirloom diamond ring off his finger, and the gold nugget from around his neck. After a year and a half of fighting bureaucracies, a federal prosecutor informed him that the government had sold his possessions.* Juana Lopez was stopped by DEA agents outside a bus depot in New York City with $4,750 cash in her purse. After questioning, the officer realized he had previously arrested her husband for drug charges and told her she was free to go, but he would keep the money because a drug dog had reacted to it. Mrs. Lopez has produced receipts showing that all of her money was legally obtained; a third of the money was borrowed, another third came from the sale of some jewelry, and the rest came from her savings as a hair stylist. The money was earmarked to pay legal fees for her husband.* Ethel Hyton had $39,110 seized during a search by DEA agents at Hobby Airport in Houston. The agents searched her bags and ordered a strip search of Miss Hylton, but found no contraband. Police claimed a drug dog had scratched at her luggage, although Ms. Hylton never saw a dog. The money which Ms. Hylton had was a settlement from an insurance claim, coupled with her life savings, which was being used to buy a house.Please help stop the injustice of the government's legalized theft! H.R. 1658 will put the burden of proof back on the government, protect innocent owners, provide counsel to indigent forfeiture defendants, eliminate the "cost-bond" requirement for for defendants to put up money to challenge the forfeiture of their property, allow defendants to keep their property while a case is in process, and make the government responsible for damage it causes to property that gets returned to the owners.Please visit http://www.drcnet.org/forfeiture/ to tell your Representative and Senators to support H.R. 1658 and restore Constitutional due process of law! The Drug Policy Foundation has extensive information on H.R. 1658 and the asset forfeiture issue, online at . And be sure to check out the nation's leading forfeiture reform organization, Forfeiture Endangers American Rights:http://www.dpf.org/index.htmlhttp://www.fear.org/ Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by FoM on May 14, 1999 at 15:22:31 PT I don't really know the answer! Hi Old Lady 4:20,Maybe you can't use your Mom's e-mail. I don't know. It has been a busy news day. Fridays usually are because of NORML and DRC Net, which I haven't gotten as of yet. Sometimes they are a little early and sometimes a little late. By the way it seems like the kinks are out of my web site so let me know if you have any trouble because it has been working fine for a couple of hours. They might have their trouble shooting finished. I hope so. I don't like working on pages when the site was so shakey.Peace, FoM! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by oldlady#420 on May 14, 1999 at 13:19:51 PT But what do you do when the send the email .... Back to you??? I did three of them and just got them back. I can't use my mom's name!! Busy news day huh?? Take good care. Shalom.ol420 [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by oldlady#420 on May 14, 1999 at 13:14:58 PT But what do you do when the send the email .... Back to you??? I did three of them and just got them back. I can't use my mom's name!! Busy news day huh?? Take good care. Shalom.ol420 [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: