Man kills burglar, government takes his life savings...

[spidergoat]

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/124057.html

Last summer, two burglars broke into Ricks' home. He shot and killed one of them. Police determined he acted in self-defense, and cleared him of any criminal wrongdoing. But local police did find a small amount of marijuana in Ricks' home, which Ricks says he uses to manage the pain of his arthritis and a hip replacement surgery. Ricks was never charged for the marijuana. But finding it in his home was enough for city police to confiscate Ricks and his wife's life savings under drug war asset forfeiture laws. Oddly enough, the FBI then stepped in, and claimed the money for itself.


Wow, that's so wrong, isn't it?

 

[John99]

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/124057.html

Wow, that's so wrong, isn't it?

He save $400,000 working in a steel foundry? uh, could that be a clue?

 

[Tiassa]

He save $400,000 working in a steel foundry? uh, could that be a clue?

It's convenient, isn't it, when you don't have to bother convicting people?

 

[John99]

It's convenient, isn't it, when you don't have to bother convicting people?

You would convict a congressman if he had 400K in his freezer wouldnt you?

 

[Tiassa]

You would convict a congressman if he had 400K in his freezer wouldnt you?

Myself? Personally? No.

You seem to forget that us liberals demand exceptionally high standards, comparatively, for criminal convictions.

 

[superluminal]

How f'd up.

 

[Repo Man]

The government must protect us from dangerous disabled marijuana addicts by rendering them destitute.

 

[madanthonywayne]

It's convenient, isn't it, when you don't have to bother convicting people?

Asset forfeiture laws are complete bullshit. How the hell these laws meet the constitutional requirement for no taking without due process is beyond me.

You would convict a congressman if he had 400K in his freezer wouldnt you?

The government should be required to charge and then convict him before taking the money. But I agree, that guy was guilty as hell.

 

[iceaura]

It's completely believable that the guy could have saved 400k working in a steel mill.

That would be a fairly conservative savings rate, and ordinary investment luck.

I swear people have forgotten, in just one generation, what life used to be like in the US for regular bluecollar citizens. There used to be unions, you used to get paid for a life's work. If you were prudent, and moderate, and pragmatic, you could save enough for you and your wife to retire on - that's two people, 200k each for retirement.

There's nothing necessarily strange about it. Except putting it in cash in a safe. Which is kind of dodgy. So maybe I don't believe it. But still:

Drug law asset forfeiture is a crock, and I can't believe people let their government get away with it. But I watched the laws get passed, War On Drugs hysteria, and now warrantless search, War On Terrorism hysteria, and I think people will allow anything when frightened.

They never seem to get frightened of their government. Some day soon, maybe.