Pubdate: Wed, 22 May 2002
Source: Creative Loafing Atlanta (GA)
Contact:  2002, Creative Loafing
Website: http://www.atlanta.creativeloafing.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1507
Author: Mara Shalhoup 
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

CONTROL YOUR TENANTS OR LOSE YOUR HOME

DA Trying To Seize Crack Houses From Homeowners 

The Fulton County District Attorney's Office has taken a landlord to court
this week on allegations that she knew her tenants were selling drugs and
didn't do anything to stop them. Her proposed punishment? The county wants
to take away her home.

DA Paul Howard says he plans to bring nine more homeowners to similar,
non-jury civil trials this year. If the DA's office is able to convince a
judge that a home should be seized, the owner will lose all equity -- and
the county will renovate the property and invite an Atlanta police officer
to live there rent-free for a year. The house then will be put up for sale. 

This week, in the first trial of its kind, Imelda Balli fought to keep her
West End home after Atlanta police identified it as a crack house. The trial
has birthed an uneasy argument as to whether the court system should be in
the business of seizing property from people who don't themselves commit a
crime. Balli doesn't live at the house; her sons do. 

Georgia law, however, states that a district attorney has the right to
forfeit property if it is used as a site for selling drugs -- regardless of
whether the owner sold them. A landlord is exempt from the forfeiture only
if he or she "did not consent to [the drug dealing], and did not know and
could not reasonably have known of the conduct." 

At one point in the trial, which began Monday, defense attorney Tom Ford
cross-examined an Atlanta narcotics officer as to whether he was aware if
Balli knew or should have known what was going on at her house on Atwood
Street. He said no. 

But Sharon Chambers, with the Atlanta police financial investigation unit,
testified that she hand-delivered a letter to Balli two years ago stating
Balli must either ensure that her tenants do not sell drugs or evict them.
At the time, Balli's sons Jashobeam and Sannyasa had each been arrested at
least once for selling cocaine at the house. 

Investigator Chambers said Balli was not convinced her sons were drug
dealers. "I recall her saying to us that this was a set-up against her
boys." 

Ford asked Chambers during cross-examination if she offered Balli any advice
as to how a mother can evict her sons. 

"Should she throw her kids out on the street, where this activity is likely
to increase?" Ford asked. "Where they face death?" 

Outside the courthouse, DA Howard pointed out that in the two years after
Balli got the letter, her sons twice sold crack cocaine to undercover
officers and were arrested a collective seven times. Atlanta investigators
also had warned Balli a second time of the impending forfeiture. 

"It seems to me," Howard said, "that they're just rubbing this in our face." 

Balli declined comment. 

Howard said Atlanta police have provided him with a list of 94 suspected
crack houses in one police zone of the city -- the one in and around West
End. Although he's taking a fraction of them to court this year, Howard
hopes to continue with the forfeiture trials in years to come. If he
succeeds, and if a cop is able to move into the refurbished houses, Howard
anticipates the police presence will help curb crime. 

He said he's also hoping the crackdown on crack houses will spark interest
within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Howard's office
has applied for a $4.6 million HUD grant to renovate both shuttered crack
houses and the homes of law-abiding citizens who live in the vicinity of
them. 

People who live near drug traffickers deserve compensation, he said, because
their property values have unfairly decreased. 

"Part of the reason there is damage to their homes," he says, "is the
presence of crack houses."
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