Asset forfeiture and the prison industrial complex.
In 2014, U.S. police seized more citizens’ property without a conviction, than all the country’s burglars stole.
Marijuana is the number one drug arrest in America and in many cases, possession of marijuana has allowed law enforcement to seize assets without so much as a court hearing. Whenever a defendant has no assets worthy of seizure, they get an invite to our justice system.
After approving medical marijuana, California is poised this year to legalize recreational marijuana via the initiative process with a law co-sponsored by Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom called the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. If approved, there will be 20-60,000 less court appearances over marijuana each year, less jail and prison overcrowding and substantially less reason for some backwoods sheriff to seize your car for that roach in your ashtray.
So it should be of no surprise that those who cherish asset forfeiture and exploit human incarceration would wish to see no change in the status quo and are spending money to oppose the legalization of recreational marijuana.
Now if the initiative had been written to include random drug testing of police officers, prison and jail guards should it fail, you can bet your life that they would be co-sponsors.
Too bad we can’t write initiatives that way.
Unfortunately, most people don’t realize or are not old enough to know that mis-classifying a naturally occurring herb under federal law was really done to discriminate against “hippies and people of color” as a way to criminalize the anti-war protesters, courtesy of Richard Nixon.
In response to millions of tons of cocaine coming over the border in the 1980’s, this war was severely escalated with mandatory minimums and asset forfeiture by Ronald Reagan and “Just say no” transformed into an epic backfire.
Since then, three generations of people have lived in the shadow of breaking the law with pretty much hippies and people of color being the only ones charged or convicted. Everyone else has either been left alone or experienced civil forfeiture in lieu of criminal charges. Today, most people languishing in prisons and jails are there for some drug related offense when drug addiction is a medical issue and should not be a legal issue.
On November 8th, you will have the opportunity to partially right a social injustice and end the war on hippies and people of color that should have never started in the first place.
You will go to the ballot box and end a substantial reason for civil asset forfeiture here in California and join the other 61% of Californians that support this initiative to end the era of prohibition on weed. That should be followed up by expunging all marijuana conviction records in a future initiative so that people can work, get student loans for college and be eligible to join the military.
Judicial Council Watcher
May 20, 2016
Apparently even the feds recognize there is a problem with civil asset forfeiture and have introduced a bill to change the way asset forfeiture works, end the abuses and introduce a bit of due process into the system.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/may/19/due-process/
legal bug
June 28, 2016
My son worked for a subcontractor on a month long house renovation & installed bamboo flooring. He was paid $2,000. He planned to fly the next day to San Francisco to meet his girlfriend’s parents. He decided to go to his friend’s house before going home. He drove slow trying to find a closer parking spot when a police officer pulled him over. The officer asked if there were drugs in the car, & my son told him there was marijuana in the glove box with his medical marijuana prescription card. The cop told him to get out, handcuffed him, and searched the entire car. My son also had an unloaded rifle in the trunk that his friend was selling, and my son had taken it to the shooting range to decide if he wanted to buy it. The cop took the marijuana, the $2,000, the rifle, and my son’s cell phone, and gave back the medical prescription card. He was arrested for possession of marijuana with intent to sell and for possession of weapon. The cop also had his car towed, even though my son’s friend came out of the house asking what was wrong and asked if he could hold my son’s car for him. My son’s girlfriend posted the $20,000 bail and it cost another $300 to get his car back.
I decided to go to court on the date of his arraignment because I researched the charges and found they could not hold. The courtroom did not have his name posted, and the bailiff did not have his name on the list. We were told to go to the main clerk’s office to search the court’s database, and nothing was found. After returning home, I called Long Beach Police Headquarters & asked for the person in charge of my son’s arrest. A detective came on the line. He said he did not know why my son’s name was not listed in court. I asked for his belongings back, including the $2,000 cash. The detective said they are holding everything as evidence and that they are going to charge him for possession with intent to sell. I asked if they were going to steal my son’s money, and his reply was that they can hold the evidence for two years. It has been four years; nothing was ever returned. The cops and detectives involved stole everything. My son also lost the airplane fare, had to pay his friend for the rifle, pay his girlfriend back for the bail, and had to buy another cell phone.
There was actually a time when I looked up to the police, but I can’t remember why.
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Wendy Darling
June 29, 2016
Yep. At this point, I feel the same way about judges.
katy
May 20, 2016
JCW, sometimes you frustate me beyond belief. I know your heart is good, but you drive me up the fucking wall when you bitch and whine about the public being defrauded while simultaneous promoting the false concept that the Ca trial court judges are the reincancination of the Virgin Mary. NEWS FASLE: this kind of harassment of the public cannot exist w/o compromised pompous assholes sitting in black robes in Ca courtrooms aiding it to continue. San Diego is a hotbed of law not based on law. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/med-west-medical-marijuana-raid_us_573a19e9e4b077d4d6f3ab1e
Santa, Tooth Fairies Unicorns and California Court Justice
May 26, 2016
Well … While in the subject of drugs, money addiction and political hypocracy… Didn’t we go to war to eliminate the threat to our way of life but now we have a heroine epidemic and our soldiers guard the poppy friends for the Taliban ? …. What kinda war on drugs do we have ? http://www.globalresearch.ca/drug-war-american-troops-are-protecting-afghan-opium-u-s-occupation-leads-to-all-time-high-heroin-production/5358053
Santa, Tooth Fairies Unicorns and California Court Justice
May 26, 2016
Poppy “fields”
Santa, Tooth Fairies Unicorns and California Court Justice
June 29, 2016
The corruption and abuse at the top is stagering. You have to wonder just how deep it goes. Baca kept Richard Fine in custody for 18mo. He was willing to threaten federal officers with everything but laying hands on her ? Both Fine and Chris Dorner complained of corruption and rights abuse by judge Jaffe right before he was “retired”
http://www.fulldisclosure.net/2014/01/sheriffs-resignation-real-reason-vb126/
sharonkramer
June 29, 2016
Similar thing happened in the San Diego case which caused Justice Huffman’s son to temporarily lose his license, the Burleson case.
Jeff Burleson open his door one night carrying an unloaded shotgun.
The reason he did that is b/c there was an obnoxious process server who had been serving papers in an Encinitas neighborhood on behalf of an HOA. He scared quite a few of the neighbors — including the Burlesons. He wouldn’t identify who he was as he was pounding on people’s doors and yelling.
The guy complained to the Sheriff Dept about Jeff’s gun, falsely claiming that Jeff pointed in his face (came out in trial that this most likely did not happen). They arrested Jeff, then went back took the gun.
DA Dumanis’ office prosecuted the case. By the time of trial, the gun had already been ‘lost” by Gore’s Sheriff Dept. DA Dumanis’s office chose to prosecute (persecuted) the case based on the unproven (and unprovable) allegations of the obnoxious process server.
Jeff claimed the trial was unfair b/c he was not allowed to plead like he needed to, and he hired Huffman Jr. to rep him on appeal.
Jr. accepted the retainer fee, but failed to timely file the notice of intent to appeal. As a result, Jeff went to jail for four months. Jr. never told Jeff that he didn’t file the notice.
Because of Jr’s failure to submit a notice to his daddy’s court and properly inform his client, there was no case on appeal so the verdict looked like it lawfully stood.
Because of Jr’s Business & Ethics Code violations, the 4th/1st agreed to hear an untimely filed appeal. The 4th/1st agreed that the trial was hinky. (What was their other choice when Huffman’s son screwed up and caused an incarceration?) They determined that Jeff was entitled to a new trial.
The day that Dumanis was re-elected in 2014 after enough votes were in to confirm she would be re-elected; Jeff was notified that her office intended to pursue a new trial.
The timing was highly indicative of a chomping-at-the-bit FU retaliation by Dumanis. Jeff had been publicly supporting her challenger and the SD Reader had written of the Burleson case. (We all know how much vampires hate sunlight)
Shortly after that, it became apparent that Huffman Jr’s licence was going to revoked — which it was temporarily in 2015. DA Dumanis dropped the harassing case against an innocent man, Burleson, who had already been wrongfully jailed and had caused Jr’s licence revocation by complaint for ethics violations to the Bar.
To my knowledge, Gore’s Sheriff’ Department has never found Jeff’s “lost” shotgun — nor has DA Dumanis’ office done any investigating of why that is or where it ended up.
This level of corruption takes a village.
Cal Bar re: Junior:
http://members.calbar.ca.gov/courtDocs/12-O-17048.pdf
Santa, Tooth Fairies Unicorns and California Court Justice
June 29, 2016
Memebers of the judiciary really need to step outside and realize their position in society. They are neutral arbitrators to ensure fairness under the law and this is their only purpose, duty and obligation. This is the glue that keeps civil society. If not for this then it become “might is right ” and violence solves arguments. Cognitive and aware people know when they are being treated as less valuable and important than another human being. I am not condoning the actions of Chris Dorner but I can say that I do understand the feeling of years of court and wasted life and damage to your future and family caused by judicial violation of civil rights. It is almost amusing that the ACJ comprises 1/3 of the judiciary and the complaints and feeling they have about JC and AOC and CJP mirror the major complaints the 70% of the public they serve feel about California judges… There is a reason and that’s because it is natural instinct… https://youtu.be/meiU6TxysCg
Perhaps the fact that Dorner was a cop and military explains what he did after he had expended everything and was denied by the obviously corrupt and connected Judge in his case.. He didn’t have any cucumbers to throw. A corrupt judicial system that has no oversight encourages abuse and abuse of litigants often ends in suicide and homocide. There is an intelligent reason that the Elkins recommendations included taping all interactions between judges and lawyers as the most effective way to provide “access to justice ” for the public.