A controversial 30-year Stop and Seize law has been amended by Attorney General Eric Holder, but it’s a little too late for Californian poker players William ‘Bart’ Davis, and John Newmerzhycky.
Attorney General, Eric Holder, has put the cat amongst the police department pigeons after changing the controversial “Equitable Sharing” scheme that gives local and state police the power to seize cash and property from individuals without warrants or criminal charges.
In April 2013, two Californian professional poker players—William “Bart” Davis and John Newmerzhycky—were driving through Iowa when they were stopped by local State Troopers. The pair—who had out-of-state plates and were returning home after playing poker in Illinois—were stopped for allegedly failing to signal when overtaking a truck.
The local police searched the car and arrested the pair, after finding $100,000 in cash and marijuana. The poker playing pair were about to embark on the roughest 12-months of their lives.
The ensuing investigation led to a search on their Californian homes, and they received felony charges in relation to drug possession (charges that were later dropped after the pair revealed medical marijuana cards). But their $100,000 remained in the possession of the police.
Eventually, $90,000 of the $100,000 was returned, but the pair are believed to have forked out a small fortune on legal fees; Newmerzhycky suffered a stroke, allegedly brought on by the stress of the incident, and neither player could continue to play poker without their bankroll.
The police were allowed to stop and search the pair due to a 30-year program known as Equitable Sharing – a form of asset forfeiture that allows the government to stop people and take their cash and property, without charging them for a crime; only returning the possessions after the owners can legally prove how they acquired them.
The program was brought into law at the height of the 1980s drug wars, but is easily open to abuse, particularly when police station budgets include the haul on their year-end reports. It’s believed activity increased in light of 9/11. It’s big money as well. Since 2001, local and state police have taken $2.7 billion’s worth of assets from people stopped, and searched, under the program. About $1.7 billion remained in the pockets of the law enforcement agencies permanently.
“With this new policy, effective immediately, the Justice Department is taking an important step to prohibit federal agency adoptions of state and local seizures, except for public safety reasons,” Holder told The Washington Post.
The new policy that Holder refers to is one that still allows authorities to make stop and seize searches, but only if they believe public safety is in danger. A little too late for Davis and Newmerzhycky.
