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Bill protects innocent from seizure of assets From wire and staff reports WASHINGTON -- Police would have a tougher time seizing private property from never-convicted drug suspects under a bill the House passed Thursday. But the proposed law is too little too late for Harry Detwiler, a retired Ashland school teacher who is waging an uphill battle to recover nearly $35,000 in cash seized by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration three years ago. A companion bill has not been offered by the Senate. "I'm glad they're doing something," he said Thursday night, "but it doesn't help me get my money back." House members voted 375-48 to set new rules for how the federal government seizes houses, cars, boats, cash and securities. Police have used civil asset forfeiture for such things as shutting down drug houses quickly by taking possession of them or hitting drug traffickers in the wallet even before charges are filed. During an afternoon of debate, both Democrats and Republicans criticized current federal laws that seem to suspend the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure -- allowing law enforcement officers to seize property simply because they suspect it was involved in wrongdoing. Civil asset forfeiture is a powerful anti-crime tool, but it also is a seductive opportunity for abuse, they said, especially for law enforcement agencies hungry for money to supplement tight budgets. Too many innocent citizens have been deprived of the use of their cash or possessions without due process, said Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. For example, it took landscaper Willie Jones of Nashville, Tenn., 2 years to recover the $9,000 Drug Enforcement Administration agents confiscated from him after an airline ticket agent became suspicious when he paid for a round-trip ticket to Houston with $267 in cash in 1991, supporters said. "They don't have to convict you. They don't even have to charge you with a crime. But they have your property," Hyde said. "This is a throwback to the old Soviet Union, where justice is the justice of the government and the citizen doesn't have a chance." "Think about that -- 80 percent of those whose property are seized are never even charged with a crime," said Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass. One of those people was Detwiler, who tangled with the DEA in 1996 and lost. A drug task force led by the DEA seized 700 marijuana plants from a shop on leased property near Jacksonville. After learning that Detwiler owned the property, they raided his home in Ashland while he was out running errands and seized about $35,000 in cash from his safe. The man who leased the property from Detwiler was eventually convicted along with four others and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Detwiler, who says he kept so much money in his safe to protect himself from investors in a failed real estate business, was never charged. Even so, the DEA kept the money. "How could they just come into my house and take my money?" he asked. "If they thought that I was involved, they should have arrested me." Despite widespread agreement that agencies like the DEA have abused forfeiture law, House members disagreed on what to do about it. A bill introduced by Hyde and the Judiciary Committee's senior Democrat, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, would require the federal government to prove with "clear and convincing" evidence that the property was eligible for forfeiture if an owner files a legal challenge. In addition, officers must prove criminality, not simply allege it. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA