City
Forced to Abolish Civil Asset Forfeiture and Pay Back Victims the Millions It
Stole from Them, by Rachel Blevins, 9/24/18.
The innocent family that had their home seized by
police through civil asset forfeiture fought back, and their victory will
affect other residents for years to come.
Philadelphia,
PA – The city that has gained a reputation for the egregious civil asset
forfeiture practices committed by its police department, will now be forced to
dismantle the program altogether, as a result of a lawsuit filed by a family
who had their home seized by police after their son was accused of a minor drug
crime.
Residents
who have been harmed by the Philadelphia Police department’s civil asset
forfeiture practices could also receive part of $3 million in compensation.
Markela
and Chris Sourovelis initially filed a lawsuit in 2014 after their son was
caught trying to sell $40 in heroin on the street.
The parents
complied with the judge and took their son to a court-ordered rehabilitation
treatment. But when they returned home, they found that police had locked them
out of their house.
The
Sourovelis family’s home was seized by police even though there was no evidence
that the parents had any knowledge of their son’s attempt to sell drugs, and
there was no evidence that the parents or any other family members had engaged
in any kind of drug-related activity deemed “illegal” by the state.
The
story received significant media attention as the country was introduced to the
horror many Philadelphia residents face, and the district attorney eventually
dropped the case against the family. In a statement from December 2014,
Chris
Sourovelis said he was relieved by the verdict, but was committed to continuing
the fight to ensure that other residents were not subjected to the same
nightmare.
“After months of uncertainty, my
family can finally rest easy knowing that our home is our home again,”Sourovelis said. “I’ve lived in Philadelphia for over 30 years. I never thought it was
possible for the police to just show up at my doorstep without notice and take
my house when I’ve done nothing wrong. But that’s exactly what happened to me
and my family—and we’re not alone. That’s why we’re going to keep fighting for
everyone still trapped in Philadelphia’s civil forfeiture nightmare.”
Sourovelis
worked with the Institute of Justice to file a new lawsuit a class action lawsuit, which
alleged that the city was seizing 300 to 500 homes each year, violating residents’
constitutional rights and illegally creating a profit incentive because the
revenue generated by the program was going straight to local police and
district attorneys.
To
say that the city has a problem is an understatement. While the city of
Allegheny, Pennsylvania, filed 200 petitions for civil asset forfeiture from
2008 to 2011, Philadelphia filed 6,560 petitions in 2011 alone. A report from
the Philadelphia Inquirer also found that the city brought in more than $64 million in seized property from 2004 to 2014, which is almost
twice the amount raised by cities like Brooklyn, New York, and Los Angeles,
California.
A
2015 report from the American Civil Liberties Union noted that “an estimated 32 percent of cash forfeitures are not
supported by a conviction,”
which means that more than $1 million is forfeited every year from innocent
residents in Philadelphia:
“Worrying evidence suggests that the profits and sweeping powers
offered by civil forfeiture have distorted a tool originally targeted at
cartels and drug kingpins. An article in the Philadelphia City Paper in 2012
indicated that Philadelphia prosecutors regularly forfeit sums as small as $100
and that people trying to get their property back sometimes had to attend
upwards of ten court dates just to reach a hearing before a judge. Other media
accounts chronicled the human toll of civil forfeiture. In one, a Philadelphia
grandmother faced losing her home because a grandson sold a small amount of
drugs out of it. In another, a Lancaster mother had $300 seized from her purse
when her son was arrested on narcotics charges.”
The
city of Philadelphia has now agreed to a settlement, which includes the following
promises, according to a report from
Reason:
·
The
city will no longer seek property forfeitures for simple drug possession
·
The
city will stop seizing petty amounts of cash without accompanying arrests or
evidence in a criminal case
·
The
city will put judges in charge of forfeiture hearings and will streamline the
hearing process
·
The
city will ban the Philadelphia district attorney and Philadelphia Police
Department from using forfeiture revenue to fund their payroll.
·
The
city will disburse the $3 million settlement fund to qualifying members of the
class action based on the circumstances of their case.
While
the results of the lawsuit are encouraging, it remains to be seen how the
Philadelphia Police department will respond, and if it will lash out at
residents for the large decrease in revenue that was being stolen from innocent
citizens.
“I’m glad that there is finally a
measure of justice for people like me who did nothing wrong but still found
themselves fighting to keep what was rightly theirs. No one in Philadelphia
should ever have to go through the nightmare my family faced,” Chris Sourovelis said in response to
the outcome of the lawsuit.
The
Institute for Justice also released a statement, calling the settlement a “groundbreaking”
accomplishment that will have a positive effect for residents for years to
come:
“For
too long, Philadelphia treated its citizens like ATMs, ensnaring thousands of
people in a system designed to strip people of their property and their rights.
No more. Today’s groundbreaking agreement will end years of abuse and create a
fund to compensate innocent owners.”
Article
posted with permission from The Free
Thought Project
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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