Pubdate: Sat, 04 Jul 2015
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2015 The Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

U.S. SEEKS APPEAL ON MONEY SEIZURE CASE

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The top federal prosecutor in Nevada wants to appeal 
an order to return $167,000 seized from a Hawaii man who was stopped 
twice on I-80 near Elko but never charged with a crime.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said in a statement this week that his 
office has asked the solicitor general for authority to challenge 
U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks' June 12 ruling.

The $167,000 was confiscated from Straughn Gorman in January 2013, 
but the case could cost the government more than $300,000 because the 
judge also put the government on the hook to pay attorney fees and 
costs that Gorman's attorney, Vincent Savarese, said total at least $142,000.

"They're out there stopping people so they can get into their 
vehicles to see if they can keep what they find," Savarese said of 
forfeiture methods sometimes called "policing for profit."

At least four states have recently overhauled the practice, which 
allows police to confiscate property even if a person isn't charged 
with a crime. The person has the burden to prove they acquired the 
property legally.

Hicks faulted police and prosecutors for misleading the court by 
failing to report that Gorman was stopped first by a Nevada Highway 
Patrol trooper, who let Gorman go but called an Elko County sheriff's 
deputy who stopped Gorman a second time and summoned a dog to sniff 
his vehicle.

Savarese said he believes Gorman was stopped because he was driving a 
vehicle with Delaware license plates on what authorities believe is a 
drug smuggling conduit. The lawyer said Gorman, who wasn't issued a 
traffic ticket, was left on the side of the road when his vehicle was 
impounded.

"They also took his vehicle, his phone, his laptop and his wallet and 
kicked him out on the highway ... He had to beg them for a ride into 
Elko," Savarese said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom