Personally, I don’t “expect” it or WANT IT! Like you said, these laws are repugnant to the oath which these criminals in costumes swore to uphold and to liberty itself.

Politicians may go right ahead and continue to pass any law they wish, (which they already do). When they finally pass the law where YOU have drawn YOUR line in the sand, do you think we should continue to expect them to enforce that law? What I would expect than, as I hope for now, is for a nation of countrymen to treat these vermin like the highway robbers and murders they are. Nothing more, so much less.

Probably not, but just the fact he got unpaid leave must mean he doesn’t have as many political connections as a typical cop, so it’s possible he could actually get punished, I’m hoping.

Why? Is there something about the mere possession of personal property/contraband that you find illegal? Does the mere possession of drugs harm anyone’s freedom or liberty?

I’m sure we are on the same page here Radley, but by making that statement it appears your willingness to CHOOSE to settle for the “proper” application of the current unconstitutional laws when we should be pushing back.

5. The Plaintiffs here are required to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the seized currency is the result of illegal narcotics, as alleged in their forfeiture complaint. Ind. Code 34-24-1-1 et seq.

6. That although there may be cases, especially when the amount of currency is extraordinary or is undoubtedly disproportionate to the means of the individual from whom seized, such that positive drug signal by certified dog plus large amount of currency meets the seizing authorities’ burden, such is not the case here.

7. That viewing the totality of the facts here, the Plaintiffs have failed to meet their burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the seized currency was the result of criminal activity.

He could (and should) have skipped #6. He lays out elsewhere in the statement of facts that Smelley had demonstrably obtained the money as a settlement and withdrawn it from the bank prior to the stop. That’s all that needed to be said.

Well duh…otherwise it’s just a lose lose proposition for the sate and we can’t have that. Seriously.

And it’s called “justice”….HA! There’s a laugh for you.

That used to be valid reason to shoot the bastard!

Preaching to the choir here, but this is really about ethics, Screw the law, in this case there was no available laws protecting the LE folks.

But lets see, we have GED cops, lawyers as judges, Ok it all makes sense now. Niehter have any ethics.

Move along folks, nothing to see here.

But Polk also determined that because the police found no drugs in Smelley’s possession and because the county presented no other evidence of illegal activity, it is obligated to return Smelley’s money.

Judge Polk might want to read up on the statute. The intent of forfeiture laws is to take away criminals’ ill-gotten gains. Even if he had drugs in the car, it’s immaterial. The question is this: did this money come to him through an illegal transaction? Merely possessing drugs doesn’t suggest that unless he has a very large amount that clearly isn’t for personal use.

Forfeiture is not intended to take away money in the presence of other illegal activity. It’s sad that the judge would even consider that, and says a lot about his, ahem, poor judgement.

As for Gambill, that piece of trash probably charges something for his time in addition to the cut of the filthy lucre. Might want to file a FOIA request and find out.

“Today’s indictment is a reminder that everybody is the same in the eyes of the law,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch. “Although police officers have a very difficult job, a police officer who allegedly breaks the law must be held accountable in the same way as any other person.”

This hasn’t happened to me, but I still find it despicable.

“The video showed Mendonca being dragged when a detective – later identified in a complaint as DeCarlo — walked up, kicked Mendonca and struck him several times with a flashlight.”

Granted, he was on paid administrative duty for a while, but at least now he’s without salary and may actually get convicted. I can finally be proud of my state for something. :)