It sucks that such a law is needed (and that Groves is a sheriff).
#^Kansas law enforcement agencies working to handcuff bill reforming civil asset forfeiture - Kansas ReflectorCherokee County Sheriff David Groves rattled off a handful of reasons the Kansas Legislature shouldn’t move ahead with a bill requiring criminal conviction of a defendant before law enforcement agencies could seek forfeiture of cash, vehicles and other property seized from that person during an investigation.
Groves, testifying to a House committee on behalf of sheriff and police associations, said the legislation would unwisely make conviction a prerequisite for starting the forfeiture process, set a minimum value of $2,500 for seizure actions, guarantee legal counsel for indigent owners of confiscated property, raise the standard of proof for law enforcement agencies claiming property, require the value of seizures to be proportional to the crime, give property owners rights to a jury trial and to appeal decisions, deposit forfeited assets in the state treasury and block transfer of forfeiture cases to federal agencies.
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civil_forfeiture
