I make a meal for my friends
Try to make it delicious
Try to keep it nutritious
Create wonderful dishes
Not one of them thinks about the way I feel
Nobody compliments the meal
I got hurt feelings
I got hurt feelings
I feel like a prize asshole
No one even mentions my casserole
I got hurt feelings
I got hurt feelings
You could’ve said something nice about my profiteroles.
-Hurt Feelings, Flight of The Conchords
And if that’s all it takes to make you leave, then door…ass…etc.
Well, the people caught up in RICOH cases aren’t exactly innocent bystanders. The prosecution has to demonstrate that they play an active role of some kind in the overall criminal enterprise.
Not true. If someone used your house, without your knowledge, to further some criminal enterprise, it can be confiscated, in spite of you being innocent of any criminal involvement.
But the oldest and most frequently used form of forfeiture–civil forfeiture-- is not targeted at criminally culpable property owners. Instead, as discussed below, civil forfeiture laws apply indiscriminately to property, regardless of the innocence of the owner, and render it subject to forfeiture if it is used unlawfully by anyone. Thus, the family home is fair game for forfeiture if a son, relative, or friend were to use it unlawfully–say, by using the telephone to arrange a drug purchase.
That article is dated 1992 and is out of date. In 2000, a law known as the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (CAFRA) was passed by President Clinton.
In CAFRA, being an innocent owner is codified as a defense to civil forfeiture under Federal law. However it is an affirmative defense, meaning, it is not enough to cast doubt on the accusations with some evidence; the person claiming to be an innocent owner must prove it by preponderance of the credible evidence. Among other reforms, CAFRA puts some time limits on the government’s ability to pursue a forfeiture, and provides that the claimant can recover attorney’s fees if they win. Here, read all about it, from the POV of a forfeiture defense practiotiner. full text of CAFRA here
Yes, but, as you pointed out, the owner has the burden of proving himself innocent under CAFRA. If you try to interpolate this to the Israeli case, most family members know very well of the suicide bomber’s activities and affiliations, and in most cases celebrate their “martyrdom”. Kinda hard to prove that they are “innocent owners” and have no involvement at all in the criminal activity.
Also - CAFRA is federal law. States have laws that are much looser and easier on the government - in a lot of them the state has only to show probable cause to confiscate property and the property owner has a higher burden to prove his innocence.
For example: Iowa. “Under state law, the prosecutor must only show that the property is related to criminal activity and can be forfeited by a preponderance of the evidence. Once the prosecutor meets that burden, the burden is on the property owner to show his innocence, or in other words, that he did not know and could not have reasonably known of the conduct or that he acted reasonably to prevent the conduct giving rise to the forfeiture.”