This is what the war on drugs gets us.
Texas police will return cash in case that prompted lawsuit
(CNN) -- Authorities who seized $8,500 and assorted jewelry from a Tennessee man after a traffic stop in east Texas have agreed to return the property after his case drew attention from CNN.
Police in the small East Texas town of Tenaha are accused of unjustly taking valuables from motorists.
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Roderick Daniels said police in Tenaha, Texas, took the money in October 2007 after they stopped him for doing 37 mph in a 35-mph zone. He said police threatened him with money-laundering charges and promised not to prosecute if he signed over the cash, which Daniels said was to buy a new car.
Daniels and other motorists who have been stopped by Tenaha police are part of a lawsuit seeking to end what plaintiff's lawyer David Guillory calls a systematic fleecing of drivers passing through the town of about 1,000. On Friday, after Shelby County District Attorney Lynda Russell refused repeated requests to discuss cases like Daniels' with CNN, her office filed papers dropping its claim on his property.
"I just feel blessed," Daniels said. "I am happy everything is going good right now. ... I just want to celebrate."
Texas law allows police to confiscate drug money and other personal property they think is used in the commission of a crime. If no charges are filed or the person is acquitted, the property has to be returned.
Russell issued a statement through her attorneys denying impropriety, and George Bowers, Tenaha's longtime mayor, says his police follow the law. But Guillory, who brought the lawsuit challenging the seizures, called cases like Daniels' "a shakedown" and "a piracy operation."
Guillory said authorities in Tenaha, about 180 miles east of Dallas, seized $3 million from 2006 to 2008. In about 150 cases, virtually all involving African-American or Latino motorists, the seizures were improper, he said.
All defendants in the lawsuit deny wrongdoing. In a written statement, Russell's attorneys said the prosecutor "has used and continues to use prosecutorial discretion ... and is in compliance with Texas law, the Texas constitution and the United States Constitution."
But the attention paid to Tenaha has led to an effort by Texas lawmakers to tighten the state's forfeiture laws.
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Amendment 4. Search and Seizure:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
-unless the suspect has out-of-state plates and dark skin. Then you'll want to call them "boy" a lot and pad them down for weapons; search their vehicle and take anything that looks valuable, and just assume that they stole it or are involved in drugs.
My problem with conservative hypocracy is perfectly illustrated in such cases. There is an attitude regarding limiting government power, but a clear motivation to overlook that principle when it becomes inconvenient.
Examples of inconvenient limitations of government power for conservatives:
When people want to have sex.
When people want to prevent or end a pregnancy.
When people want to put chemicals into their bodies.
When people want to read books on secular topics.
When school teachers want to teach science.
When school teachers want to teach history.
When scientists want to investigate nature.
When scientists want to improve our understanding of biology.
When minorities who know their rights file suit.
Suddenly, conservatives change their tune and will go as far as demanding constitutional amendments to reach their goals. And yet these same charming people view groups such as the Taliban as a bunch of criminal religious nuts! Ever since the election, I've been looking forward to far-left extremists quieting their "bush-hitler" nonsense. But now far-right extremists are spouting "marx-hussein-obama". Suddenly they are against the "Patriot Act" and fear "Homeland Security" even though they were the ones mocking liberals who thought those were bad ideas. Apparently these ideas 'turned bad' when a black guy was put in charge.
Fuck me.
(CNN) -- Authorities who seized $8,500 and assorted jewelry from a Tennessee man after a traffic stop in east Texas have agreed to return the property after his case drew attention from CNN.
Police in the small East Texas town of Tenaha are accused of unjustly taking valuables from motorists.
1 of 3
Roderick Daniels said police in Tenaha, Texas, took the money in October 2007 after they stopped him for doing 37 mph in a 35-mph zone. He said police threatened him with money-laundering charges and promised not to prosecute if he signed over the cash, which Daniels said was to buy a new car.
Daniels and other motorists who have been stopped by Tenaha police are part of a lawsuit seeking to end what plaintiff's lawyer David Guillory calls a systematic fleecing of drivers passing through the town of about 1,000. On Friday, after Shelby County District Attorney Lynda Russell refused repeated requests to discuss cases like Daniels' with CNN, her office filed papers dropping its claim on his property.
"I just feel blessed," Daniels said. "I am happy everything is going good right now. ... I just want to celebrate."
Texas law allows police to confiscate drug money and other personal property they think is used in the commission of a crime. If no charges are filed or the person is acquitted, the property has to be returned.
Russell issued a statement through her attorneys denying impropriety, and George Bowers, Tenaha's longtime mayor, says his police follow the law. But Guillory, who brought the lawsuit challenging the seizures, called cases like Daniels' "a shakedown" and "a piracy operation."
Guillory said authorities in Tenaha, about 180 miles east of Dallas, seized $3 million from 2006 to 2008. In about 150 cases, virtually all involving African-American or Latino motorists, the seizures were improper, he said.
All defendants in the lawsuit deny wrongdoing. In a written statement, Russell's attorneys said the prosecutor "has used and continues to use prosecutorial discretion ... and is in compliance with Texas law, the Texas constitution and the United States Constitution."
But the attention paid to Tenaha has led to an effort by Texas lawmakers to tighten the state's forfeiture laws.
=========================================
Amendment 4. Search and Seizure:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
-unless the suspect has out-of-state plates and dark skin. Then you'll want to call them "boy" a lot and pad them down for weapons; search their vehicle and take anything that looks valuable, and just assume that they stole it or are involved in drugs.
My problem with conservative hypocracy is perfectly illustrated in such cases. There is an attitude regarding limiting government power, but a clear motivation to overlook that principle when it becomes inconvenient.
Examples of inconvenient limitations of government power for conservatives:
When people want to have sex.
When people want to prevent or end a pregnancy.
When people want to put chemicals into their bodies.
When people want to read books on secular topics.
When school teachers want to teach science.
When school teachers want to teach history.
When scientists want to investigate nature.
When scientists want to improve our understanding of biology.
When minorities who know their rights file suit.
Suddenly, conservatives change their tune and will go as far as demanding constitutional amendments to reach their goals. And yet these same charming people view groups such as the Taliban as a bunch of criminal religious nuts! Ever since the election, I've been looking forward to far-left extremists quieting their "bush-hitler" nonsense. But now far-right extremists are spouting "marx-hussein-obama". Suddenly they are against the "Patriot Act" and fear "Homeland Security" even though they were the ones mocking liberals who thought those were bad ideas. Apparently these ideas 'turned bad' when a black guy was put in charge.
Fuck me.