Pubdate: Fri, 11 Jan 2002
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2002 The Oklahoma Publishing Co
Contact:  http://www.oklahoman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Author: Robert E Boczkiewicz
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

WIDOW WILL LOSE RURAL ACREAGE

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.
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