The following commentary is from John Whitehead, executive director of the excellent Rutherford Institute: By John W. Whitehead March 26, 2013 “This is the problem when police officers and police departments have a financial interest in doing their job. We got rid of bounty hunters because they were not a good thing. This is modern [...]
Congratulations to the Caswells and the many fine attorneys at the Institute for Justice who defeated our Government’s capricious attempts to convert the Motel Caswell into windfall profits. IJ’s Press Release: Arlington, Va.—Putting to rest the most contentious civil forfeiture fight in the nation, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston today announced it will not [...]
The Metrowest Daily News reports on the Worcester, Massachusetts District Attorney Joseph Early’s use of his asset forfeiture fund: The Worcester County District Attorney’s office is fighting drug crime with a Zamboni, lawn equipment and a refurbished basketball court.The $985 ice resurfacing machine was one of many purchases Joseph Early’s office made with the $903,000 [...]
Carmen Ortiz, United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, is reportedly weighing an appeal of U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein’s dismissal of the forfeiture action against the property housing the Motel Caswell: U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said her office is weighing an appeal against a Tewksbury motel owner who criticized her for prosecutorial bullying last week after [...]
Congrats to the Caswells and the many fine individuals at the Institute for Justice on a well-deserved and eminently just result. It is, of course, unfortunate that such resources are required to defend against such plainly outrageous governmental overreach and reckless profiteering. One shudders for those who cannot afford to mount sufficient defenses and simply have [...]
In Massachusetts, the Lowell Sun’s Katie Lannan reports that the Motel Caswell suffered fewer drug arrests over the last several years than nearby commercial addresses, further straining the publicly-given rationale supporting forfeiture of the motel: A review of Police Department arrest logs from 2007 through 2012 shows that despite a relatively high number of drug arrests at [...]
Our Government’s imaginative prosecution of the Motel Caswell continues… Assistant United States Attorney Sonya Rao argues all property on which a drug crime has occurred is subject to forfeiture, regardless of the owner’s knowledge or consent. The prosecution’s theory would make continued private ownership of publicly-used property contingent on the discretion of prosecutors and mere happenstance. Successful [...]
We’ve previously covered the litigation by the Institute for Justice on behalf of Russ Caswell and his Motel Caswell, but I thought it was worth highlighting a particular aspect of the case: that the forfeiture was initiated by a DEA agent whose job it is to “hunt” for problem properties for the DEA to initiate [...]
The Lowell Sun’s Lisa Redmond continues trial coverage in the attempted forfeiture of the Motel Caswel: “As the federal government fights to seize a Tewksbury motel in a drug-forfeiture trial, a federal judge admits she has “serious concerns” about the government’s case. Despite her concerns, U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein on Wednesday declined to dismiss the case at [...]
The Lowell Sun’s Lisa Redmond reports on today’s trial developments in the Motel Caswell: “Motel Caswell, a “dangerous property” and a hotbed of drug activity according to the federal government, has seen few drug incidents in a dozen years and owner Russell Caswell was rarely informed, a Tewksbury police lieutenant testified on Wedesday. Tewksbury Lt. Thomas [...]
The United States argues in the trial of United States v. 434 Main Street, Tewksbury, Mass. (the Motel Caswell) that simply calling the police and cooperating with law enforcement isn’t enough to present an innocent owner defense in a civil forfeiture proceeding: In particular, courts have held that it is not sufficient for a claimant who [...]
Today was day one of the trial of United States v. 434 Main Street, Tewksbury, Mass. (the Motel Caswell) in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts. Russ Caswell, claimant, is represented by the Institute for Justice (Here’s IJ’s backgrounder on the Caswell case). This account comes of the trial comes to us from Cecil Williams, who was [...]
If you’re in Massachusetts next week and have been following the coverage of the Motel Caswell forfeiture and the robust defense of the Caswell family’s rights by our friends at the Institute for Justice, come check out the trial Monday, Nov. 5, at the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse in Boston. Here is the Facebook event (check [...]
IJ’s press release: The most contentious civil forfeiture fight in the nation will be the subject of a week-long trial starting Monday, November 5, 2012, in Boston. Throughout the week, the Institute for Justice, which represents the property owners in the case, will expose the ugly practice of civil forfeiture—where law enforcement agencies can [...]
The U.S. Government recently filed a series of limine motions (motion in limine to exclude evidence concerning the Department of Justice’s Equitable Sharing Program; motion in limine requesting site visits of the defendant property and Caswell residence; and motion in limine to exclude evidence concerning criminal activity at other locations) in the government’s protracted attempt to forfeit the Motel Caswell. U.S. [...]
AFR analyst Scott Meiner appeared on the San Francisco-based Bob Zadek Radio show on September 16. The podcast is here (you’ll have to click through to listen). The initial discussion is of the seizure and litigation over the Motel Caswell in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, and moves into a general discussion of how asset forfeiture undermines democratic [...]
Congress passed the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA), in part, to stop government agencies from using civil asset forfeiture as a leaner, and meaner, eminent domain. And while many of Henry Hyde’s reforms were watered down, or disposed of, the uniform innocent owner defense was an important reform that survived. The Department of [...]
The Tewksbury, MA Police Department and the US Attorneys Office are persisting with a civil asset forfeiture claim of the Motel Caswell. They allege that controlled substance violations and numerous narcotics investigations are tied to Russell Caswell’s property. The investigations appear, in part, triggered by Russell Caswell’s attempts to deter drug usage at his motel [...]
Libertarian writer Wendy McElroy provides a concise overview of civil asset forfeiture laws in the United States with the recent Motel Caswell seizure in Massachusetts as the key example. Her conclusion is worth quoting extensively: Not only does civil forfeiture create abuses, as [Institute for Justice President Chip] Mellor points out, it itself is an [...]
The Institute for Justice (IJ)–a “merry band of libertarian litigators,” as George Will described them–has joined a lawsuit to protect Russell and Patricia Caswell from having their Tewksbury, Massachusetts motel forfeited by the federal government. The Caswells are not charged with any crime, but a minuscule number of their patrons have been arrested over the [...]
