Editorial: Forfeiture reform is essential

The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly last month to curtail federal civil forfeiture laws. While supporters of these laws assert they're a useful tool in fighting crime, the fact remains that the government can unfairly seize an individual's property without offering due process. In the upside down world of civil forfeiture laws, the government is allowed to keep your property even if you're acquitted of a crime. Under the bill authored by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., the burden of proof would shift from the accused to the federal government, which would have to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the property should be forfeited.

To get an idea of the antipathy to the existing laws, even in the House, which increasingly has been wracked by deep ideological and partisan divisions, the vote was 375-48 to curb forfeiture laws. Its unifying power created one of the most politically surreal moments this year: A New York Times photographer captured ultraconservative Reps. Bob Barr and Henry Hyde and die-hard liberal Reps. Barney Frank and John Conyers locking their hands together in triumph as they celebrated the bill's passage in the House on June 24.

The congressmen's victory, though, may be short-lived, since the Clinton administration is proposing that the Senate gut the House legislation. Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder told a Senate subcommittee last week that the bill "crosses the line between providing due process and giving unintended relief to drug dealers, money launderers and other criminals who victimize the elderly and the vulnerable in our society." Holder's sentiments are shared by some senators on the committee, suggesting the House bill may be in jeopardy.

But the Senate should not ignore at least a decade's worth of forfeiture law abuses, including here in Nevada. In the early 1990s Las Vegan Billy Munnerlyn had his jet airplane seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration after he unknowingly got involved with an individual who was accused of transporting drug money. While Munnerlyn never was indicted, it took him several years before he eventually got his airplane back -- but not before having to pay the federal government $7,000 and spending $100,000 of his own money to get the aircraft back in shape so it could fly again. It's not as if Munnerlyn's case was isolated. In fact, Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., has noted that 80 percent of those whose property is seized never even get charged with a crime.

Just as is the case with the independent counsel law -- which fortunately Congress decided to let expire on June 30 after witnessing so many prosecutorial abuses -- the federal civil forfeiture laws were based on good intentions. But often a well-meaning law that sounds wonderful in theory turns into a nightmare when put in practice. Such is the situation with the forfeiture laws. The House reforms should be passed intact by the Senate so these government abuses can be finally be reined in.

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