Tainted Currency and Forfeiture and Resource Seizure

"I am Not a Drug Dealer - Why Did the Police Seize My Money?"Your college-age son calls from the airport in Austin. He'd been attending school in Chicago and had flown to Austin to see a dude he met on the net. All he carried on the aircraft was a, and, since he didn't know when he might come back to school - or visit you in Houston - he purchased a one-way ticket. When he decided to come back to Chicago, he acknowledged the airline counter and, employing his driver's license with his "permanent" Houston address (your house, where he was raised), he asked for an one of the ways ticket. He did not have a bank card (not after the stunt he pulled as once you thought he could handle his own funds), a newcomer, therefore he paid in money. All he carried was his backpack for the reunite trip.Before September 11th, he would have breezed through protection and ticketing and would have been home in a few hours. But, now, the airline ticket agent notified the airport police and your son was greeted by them as he waited in the door area.Your son had been profiled - single small man, address on recognition didn't fit either departure or arrival town, paid for the ticket in cash, and had no baggage, merely a backpack. Therefore, whether he is an alleged terrorist or drug vendor, the police wanted to "eyeball" him and ask him a few allegedly innocent questions.After these concerns, the police asked if he'd mind if his backpack was searched by them. He is an excellent child, you taught him to regard law enforcement, and, he was not a terrorist or perhaps a drug dealer. Therefore, he said "yes."The police found three thousand pounds in currency in his backpack. (Yes, he's a saver fine. And, because he distrusted "plastic," he moved his cash around with him, never letting the backpack out of his sight. )When law enforcement asked him concerning the cash, he simply said it was his. It had been saved by him. He thought it best to be direct and easy and just tell them what it was.The authorities, however, asked your child to accompany them to a meeting area, "for just several more questions." He did, gazing to feel increasing uneasy as he did so.In the meeting room, the senior officer unpacked the backpack's contents, including the currency, on the table. In minutes, another official, this 1 with a K-9 system (which is "cop speak" for "dog"), came into the room and the property was sniffed by the dog, including the currency, disseminate on the desk. After having a few moments, the officer with the dog said "that's it - the money."The senior officer then asked your daughter more pointed questions - Did he deal medications? Did he know anybody he did? When was the last time he ordered cocaine or marijuana? Your child became increasingly nervous, which only made the officer press tougher with the questions. After a few moments, your daughter asked, "Do I would like a lawyer?" To which the official responded, "I do not know. Do you feel you require a lawyer? Have you done something wrong?"After several more minutes, the official gathered up the currency, put it in to still another plastic bag with a label, and, after copying your son's id, informed him he was free to go.Your daughter was free to go. But his income was staying. The authorities had seized the currency and would be sending their seizure affidavit to the district attorney's office and a of Seizure and a Petition would be filed by which the State would allege that the currency was "contraband" and subject to forfeiture under Texas law, Chapter 59 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and under federal law. Your child is now in the asset seizure and forfeiture earth, and he faces going to court to prove that his money is "innocent."A considerable fraction of paper currency contains large traces of cocaine, and it's not essential for the money ahead in to direct contact with the drug.One research found that paper currency in the United States included an of between 2.9 and 28.8 micrograms of cocaine relying on the season and city, with a maximum greater than 1,300 micrograms found on some 1996 charges. A tea bag would be filled about half by a gram of cocaine. A microgram is one millionth of that amount.And, besides traces of narcotics, paper money is infected with other things, such as infection producing germs. One past review revealed ninety four percent (94%) of one dollar bills collected from the area in western Ohio included disease causing or possibly disease causing germs. The review, published in 2002 in the Southern Medical Journal, was led by Peter Ender, chief of infectious illnesses at Wright Patterson Medical Center in Ohio.Whether it is contamination by drugs or lethal bacteria, it is not surprising since dollar bills in the United States stay static in blood circulation for typically 21 months, according to the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving, when time they get managed by lots of people. For greater bills, the life span is even longer, with twenty greenback bills lasting about 24 months and fifties residing in circulation for 55 months.So, during these schedules, who else has treated your cash besides the bank cashier and you? Remnants of narcotics will most likely remain on the currency If it was a drug dealer or person, then. And, that could cause you a problem when the authorities necessitate the "drug sniffing" dog after they find a large sum of currency in your vehicle, in your luggage, or in your pocket.Thankfully, appeals courts have held that property of a large quantity of money isn't unlawful in and of itself.In several cases where currency is taken, the State depends on a "drug dog's" alert regarding the presence of narcotics or records of narcotics on paper money. But, it's important to keep in mind that, underneath the law, a drug dog's alert is just probable cause to continue analyzing, not conclusive evidence the amount of money has been confronted with a controlled substance. Even if your dog had really alerted on the money itself, rather than on an automobile and on a spot where wrappings from the money had been placed."Drug Power supply Repair," though trusted by law enforcement, aren't infallible and, in reality, are generally prone to false-positive signals. When evaluating a dog's "alert" to contraband, one should think about a number of factors, including the subjectivity of interpreting the drug dog's alert, the subjectivity of the dog, and the inability to cross-examine the dog to challenge his "findings."