A federal appeals court has blocked an attempt by local police and federal agents to grab and keep $69,000 in cash that was found in the trunk of a car.
There was no evidence of a crime, no violation of the law to which the money could be connected, but they wanted it anyway.
But now, the real owner, Dereck McClellan, will have a chance to explain to a jury why he kept his money where he did, and why he shouldn’t have to give it to federal agents.
The case is being handled by the Institute for Justice.
A report from Dan King, at the IJ, explains the background of the decision just released by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, “The case involves a North Carolina man, Dereck McClellan, who was found asleep in a car with $69,940.50 in cash in the trunk. Federal prosecutors had no idea where the cash came from, but they filed a civil forfeiture complaint alleging that the cash had to be drug proceeds. In the government’s view, only a drug dealer would have that much cash in a car.”
A federal judge in South Carolina shortly later agreed.
But the appeals court reversed the decision, and ruled “not using a bank does not necessarily make one a criminal.”
The case now goes back to a jury trial.
“If the government is going to take money from someone, they should be required to provide real evidence that the money was obtained in an illegal way, not simply throw around baseless assumptions,” said Institute for Justice Attorney Rob Johnson.
Police Pay off !!!