Report: Judge Delays Ruling on Letroy Guion in Civil Forfeiture Case
On Monday, Packers defensive linemen, Letroy Guion was in court for the probable cause hearing following his arrest earlier this month.
Robert Rush, Guion's attorney is trying to prove that the marijuana isn't related to the money or car, which would mean neither is forfeited
— Daniel Gillman (@DanielGillman) February 16, 2015
Judge in Guion's civil forfeiture case will issue order by the end of the week. There was no decision made today.
— Daniel Gillman (@DanielGillman) February 16, 2015
Guion refused to comment on the hearing but said he definitely plans to play in the NFL again pic.twitter.com/0XjCegMj7p
— Daniel Gillman (@DanielGillman) February 16, 2015
Comments (5)
HankScorpio
February 16, 2015 at 02:25 pm
If Guion's attorney can demonstrate the source of the cash (as has been reported), it would be a miscarriage of justice for gov't to simply take it. I get that the war on drugs is being fought but this doesn't seem like that (again, assuming the cash is from his pay by the Packers). It would seem obvious the car was from his football dealings, not his "drug dealings".
It's one heck of a lot of pot for consumption but it is a consumption level quantity he had in his possession. If such a relatively small quantity was for distribution, it would have been in multiple bags.
Add in the additional felony for a licensed, locked gun and you can easily see how the system is set up to throw people in prison whether they deserve it or not. (And no, I don't believe we should be jailing people for smoking pot).
Hopefully justice will be served. I don't think we'll see him in a Packer uniform anytime soon and I'm ok with that. But it doesn't sound like he deserves to have his life ruined, either.
HankScorpio
February 16, 2015 at 09:24 pm
Read the comments from these yokels at the link below. The way they talk about the plan to divvy up the score from a traffic stop would make Boss Hogg proud. Roscoe is gonna be living it up at the Boar's Nest, for sure.
Absent proof in a court of law that it was from drugs, what gives them a right to Guion's money? It's not like it is impossible for him to have that much cash through perfectly legal means. As I said above, it was stupid to carry around that much cash in the same vehicle as that much pot. But last I checked, stupid is not a crime. So let the legal system play out as it will. And then worry about what can be done with the "evidence"
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/local/florida/2015/02/16/nfl-pl...
dullgeek
February 17, 2015 at 09:37 am
Civil Asset Forfieture is bad news. There are cases where people have lost their house because some teenager was smoking weed in the backyard. Or another case where a guy was pulled over with cash he had to buy a used car, and the cash was taken on trumped up suspicion of drugs. The guy was never charged, but his money was still taken. Or the case where a supplier of candy to convenience stores lost over $400,000 because his bank deposits could have been structured in order to avoid certain taxes that kick. Never charged. Money gone.
In Civil Asset Forfieture cases, your property is what's charged with a crime, not you. And your property is guilty until proven innocent.
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2014/03/civil-asset-forfeiture-...
John Oliver also did a send up on the topic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks
HankScorpio
February 17, 2015 at 04:48 pm
Some of the links inside the Heritage link seem like they are straight out of the old Soviet Union.
Go to a Art show that had not procured a proper liquor license...lose your car.
Have a criminal brother run into your house as he attempts to avoid police...lose your house.
Other cases are even more thin...a couple driving though Texas on vacation had $6k in cash. Not unusual to carry a lot of cash while on vacation...cops call it laundering and threaten to take their kid unless the couple forfeited the claim to the money.
In many cases, the crooked police/gov't count on a very practical question...is it worth $8k in legal fees to recover $6k in cash? The rational answer is no.
The laws that is meant to be a tool to fight the worst of the worst should only be used on the worst of the worst.
Amanofthenorth
February 17, 2015 at 02:48 am
War on Mother Earth