I N T H E

Indiana Supreme Court

Supreme Court Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70

State of Indiana,

Appellant (Plaintiff)

–v–

Tyson Timbs,

Appellee (Defendant)

Argued: June 28, 2019 | Decided: October 28, 2019

Appeal from the Grant Superior Court, No. 27D01-1308-MI-92

The Honorable Jeffrey D. Todd, Judge

On Remand from the Supreme Court of the United States, No. 17-1091

Opinion by Chief Justice Rush

Justices David, Massa, and Goff concur.

Justice Slaughter dissents with separate opinion.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 2 of 33

Rush, Chief Justice.

Civil forfeiture of property is a powerful law-enforcement tool. It can

be punitive and profitable: punitive for those whose property is 

confiscated; and profitable for the government, which takes ownership of 

the property.

When a civil forfeiture is even partly punitive, it implicates the Eighth 

Amendment’s protection against excessive fines. And since that safeguard 

applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, we now face 

two questions left open by the Supreme Court of the United States. First, 

how should courts determine whether a punitive, in rem forfeiture is an 

excessive fine? And second, would forfeiture of Tyson Timbs’s vehicle be 

an excessive fine?

We answer the first question with an analytical framework similar to 

those of almost all courts to have addressed the issue. For the second 

question, we remand for the trial court to determine, based on that

framework, whether Timbs has cleared the hurdle of establishing gross 

disproportionality, entitling him to relief.

Facts and Procedural History

Tyson Timbs started taking prescription hydrocodone pills for foot pain 

in 2007. He soon became addicted and supplemented his prescription with 

pain pills he bought on the street. When those became unavailable, he 

turned to heroin.

Despite addiction treatment, Timbs continued to use; and when he 

failed a drug screen, he lost his job. He got clean for a while but began 

using again after his father died in 2012.

From his father’s life insurance policy, Timbs received approximately 

$73,000. With about $42,000 of those proceeds, he purchased a Land 

Rover. He spent the rest on clothes, shoes, and heroin, with over $30,000 

going to the drugs.

Timbs would obtain heroin by regularly driving his Land Rover sixty to 

ninety miles to meet his supplier. These trips accounted for most of the
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 3 of 33

16,000 miles Timbs put on the vehicle over four months. Eventually, a 

confidential informant told police officers on a drug task force that Timbs 

would possibly sell heroin. Timbs had never sold before, but the officers 

devised a controlled-buy plan.

The first buy took place on May 6, 2013, at an apartment near Timbs’s 

residence. Timbs drove his Land Rover to the apartment, bringing two 

grams of heroin with him for the sale. At the apartment, Timbs gave the 

drugs to the confidential informant, and an undercover police officer gave 

Timbs the agreed-upon $225. Before Timbs departed in the Land Rover, 

the officer mentioned contacting Timbs for another sale.

About two weeks later, a second buy took place at a gas station close to 

Timbs’s residence. Timbs arrived on foot with two grams of heroin, which 

he gave to an undercover officer for $160.

Over the next week, officers set up a third buy, which was to take place 

at a hotel. But the sale did not occur. Before Timbs arrived at the meeting 

place on the scheduled day, police stopped him in his Land Rover for a 

traffic violation. Officers immediately seized the vehicle and took Timbs 

and his passenger into custody. Neither individual had heroin with him in 

the vehicle. Without drugs for the sale, they had planned to drive off with 

the purchase money once the buyer handed it over.

The State charged Timbs with three offenses: two counts of Class B 

felony dealing in a controlled substance, Ind. Code § 35-48-4-2(a)(1) (2012); 

and one count of Class D felony conspiracy to commit theft, I.C. §§ 35-43-

4-2(a), -41-5-2. The trial court found Timbs indigent and appointed a 

public defender for the criminal case.

After entering into a plea agreement, Timbs pleaded guilty to one count 

of dealing and the conspiracy charge, and the State dismissed the other 

count of dealing. The court sentenced Timbs according to the plea 

agreement’s terms: the sentence for dealing—six years’ imprisonment 

with five years suspended to probation and one year executed on home 

detention—would run concurrent with a lesser sentence for the conspiracy 

conviction. Also, as part of his sentence, Timbs was required to participate 

in a drug-and-alcohol program; pay the $400 program fee; reimburse the 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 4 of 33

drug task force $385 for the cost of its investigation; and pay $418 in court 

costs and other fees.

In addition to prosecuting the criminal case against Timbs, the State 

filed a civil complaint for forfeiture of the Land Rover, bringing the action 

against the property, or in rem, with Timbs as a named party in interest. In 

its complaint, the State alleged:

1. On or about May 31, 2013, officers of the . . . Drug Task 

Force, seized from the Defendant, TYSON TIMBS, One (1) 

2012 Land Rover LR2 . . . in Grant County, Indiana.

2. On said date and at said place, the Defendant, TYSON 

TIMBS, had in his possession, the above described vehicle, 

said vehicle had been furnished or intended to be furnished 

by Defendant, TYSON TIMBS, in exchange for an act that is 

in violation of a criminal statute, or used to facilitate any 

violation of a criminal statute or is traceable as proceeds of 

the violation of a criminal statute under Indiana law, as 

provided in I.C. 34-24-1-1.

3. The Defendant, TYSON TIMBS, is the owner of the vehicle.

After a hearing, the court made factual findings and entered judgment 

in Timbs’s favor. The court reasoned that forfeiture of the vehicle would 

be grossly disproportional to the gravity of Timbs’s dealing offense—

which carried a maximum statutory fine of $10,000 (about one-fourth the 

Land Rover’s market value at the time Timbs purchased it five months 

earlier)—so the forfeiture would violate the Eighth Amendment’s 

Excessive Fines Clause.

The State appealed, and our Court of Appeals affirmed. State v. Timbs, 

62 N.E.3d 472, 473, 477 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016). We granted the State’s 

petition to transfer and reversed. State v. Timbs, 84 N.E.3d 1179, 1180–81, 

1185 (Ind. 2017). Without reaching the excessiveness question, we held 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 5 of 33

that the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment had not been 

incorporated against the States.1Id. at 1180–81.

Timbs petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States for certiorari. 

The Court granted his petition and held that the Excessive Fines Clause 

applies to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. Timbs v. Indiana, 

139 S. Ct. 682, 687 (2019). The Court accordingly vacated our prior 

decision and remanded the case back to us. Id. at 691.

We ordered additional briefing and oral argument and now address the 

merits of the constitutional issue.2

Standard of Review

Timbs asserts that the statute under which the State sought forfeiture of 

the Land Rover is unconstitutional as applied to the facts of this case. His 

claim involves several layers of review.

We accept the trial court’s factual findings unless they are clearly 

erroneous. Ind. Trial Rule 52(A); Hitch v. State, 51 N.E.3d 216, 226 (Ind. 

2016). But we review the court’s excessiveness decision de novo, as it 

requires application of a constitutional standard. See United States v. 

Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321, 336–37 & n.10 (1998); State v. Thakar, 82 N.E.3d 257, 

259 (Ind. 2017). Finally, we presume the statute is constitutional and 

“resolve all reasonable doubts concerning [the] statute in favor of 

constitutionality.” Thakar, 82 N.E.3d at 259 (quoting Tiplick v. State, 43 

N.E.3d 1259, 1262 (Ind. 2015)).

1 Timbs did not raise a claim under the Indiana Constitution. See Ind. Const. art. 1, § 16 

(“Excessive bail shall not be required. Excessive fines shall not be imposed. Cruel and unusual 

punishments shall not be inflicted. All penalties shall be proportioned to the nature of the 

offense.”). We are therefore unable to evaluate such a claim. See generally Jeffrey S. Sutton, 51 

Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law (2018).

2 We thank all amici for their helpful briefs.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 6 of 33

Discussion and Decision

The Eighth Amendment guarantees that “[e]xcessive bail shall not be 

required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments 

inflicted.” U.S. Const. amend. VIII. These guarantees “place ‘parallel 

limitations’ on ‘the power of those entrusted with the criminal-law 

function of government.’” Timbs, 139 S. Ct. at 687 (quoting Browning-Ferris 

Indus. of Vt., Inc. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc., 492 U.S. 257, 263 (1989)).

At issue is the Excessive Fines Clause, which applies only to fines, or 

“payment[s] to a sovereign as punishment for some offense.” BrowningFerris, 492 U.S. at 265. Because the Clause has received little attention in 

Supreme Court precedent, courts in recent decades have been grappling 

with the question of what makes an in rem fine excessive. We address that 

question today—finding guidance in cases from the Supreme Court, 

especially Austin and Bajakajian, and in the history of both the Excessive 

Fines Clause and forfeitures.

But first, we must determine whether forfeiture of Timbs’s Land Rover

is a fine, bringing it within the scope of the Excessive Fines Clause.

I. Forfeiture of Timbs’s vehicle is a fine.

The parties agree that forfeiture of Timbs’s Land Rover is at least partly 

punitive, making it a fine subject to the Excessive Fines Clause. We also 

agree.

The State sought forfeiture of the Land Rover under Indiana Code 

section 34-24-1-1(a)(1)(A). This statute authorizes use-based forfeitures—

forfeitures based on the property’s use in a crime—of vehicles used in the 

commission of certain drug offenses. Specifically, the statute states that 

“[a]ll vehicles” may be seized for forfeiture “if they are used or are 

intended for use by the person or persons in possession of them to 

transport or in any manner to facilitate the transportation of . . . [a]

controlled substance for the purpose of committing, attempting to 

commit, or conspiring to commit any of” the listed drug offenses. I.C. § 34-

24-1-1(a)(1) (2012 & Supp. 2013).
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 7 of 33

The question is whether a use-based forfeiture authorized by this 

statute is punitive and thus a fine. In Austin v. United States, the Supreme 

Court set out a way to answer that question. 509 U.S. 602 (1993). There, the

Government sought forfeiture—under two statutory provisions—of a 

mobile home and auto shop, based on the property’s use to commit or 

facilitate a federal drug offense. Id. at 604–05, 605 n.1, 620 (forfeiture under 

21 U.S.C. §§ 881(a)(4), (7) (1988)). The Court concluded that such a 

forfeiture was at least partially punitive, bringing it within the ambit of 

the Excessive Fines Clause. Id. at 621–22.

In reaching this conclusion, the Court took a categorical approach, 

asking whether the two statutory provisions, “as a whole,” served a 

punitive purpose. Id. at 622 n.14; see United States v. Ursery, 518 U.S. 267, 

287 (1996) (noting that Austin’s approach is “wholly distinct from” a caseby-case analysis). The Court found that they did for two key reasons: first, 

the provisions focused on the owner’s involvement in a crime (by linking

the forfeiture to specific offenses and by including an “innocent owner” 

defense); and second, the value of the forfeitable property bore no 

relationship to reparative costs. Austin, 509 U.S. at 619–22. Thus, 

forfeitures under the two provisions were fines. Id. at 622. And it did not 

matter whether, in some cases, forfeitures under the provisions would be 

purely remedial. Id. at 622 n.14. The Court’s categorical analysis would

still identify those forfeitures as fines, though their entirely remedial

character would make them not excessive. Id.

Like the provisions in Austin, Indiana Code section 34-24-1-1(a)(1)(A) is 

punitive by design. The statute focuses on the owner’s involvement in a 

crime—as it ties each forfeiture to the commission of a drug offense, and 

an accompanying “innocent owner” provision guards against forfeiting

vehicles from owners who are uninvolved in the underlying offense. See

I.C. § 34-24-1-4(a); cf. Austin, 509 U.S. at 619–20. Also, the value of the 

forfeiture is neither a fixed sum nor linked to the harm caused by the 

underlying crime; the vehicles’ values “can vary so dramatically that any 

relationship between the Government’s actual costs and the amount of the 

sanction is merely coincidental.” Austin, 509 U.S. at 622 n.14.

Unsurprisingly, then, the State acknowledged at oral argument that the 

statute has punitive as well as remedial functions.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 8 of 33

Thus, forfeitures under Section 1(a)(1)(A) are fines to which the 

Excessive Fines Clause applies. Because forfeiture of Timbs’s Land Rover 

is such a fine, we now turn to the contours of the protection against 

excessiveness.

II. When is a use-based in rem fine excessive?

The parties disagree about how to measure excessiveness.

The State argues that the excessiveness of an in rem fine turns on a 

single determination: if the property was an instrument of crime, then its 

forfeiture is not excessive—full stop.3 The State reasons that, given the 

history of in rem forfeitures, the Excessive Fines Clause “requires only that 

the property forfeited be a genuine criminal instrumentality.” State’s 

Opening Br. at 11.

Timbs urges us to recognize that the Excessive Fines Clause includes 

both an instrumentality limitation and a proportionality limitation. He 

says analyzing excessiveness entails two main questions. Was the 

property instrumental in the underlying crime? And, if so, would the 

property’s forfeiture be grossly disproportional to the gravity of the 

offense? Timbs asserts that these inquiries focus on several 

considerations—how closely the property and predicate offense are 

linked; the claimant’s blameworthiness; and the harshness of the 

forfeiture’s effects. He maintains, though, that an excessiveness 

determination is “factually intensive,” making “a one-size-fits-all test or a 

weighting for the factors” inappropriate. Timbs’s Opening Br. at 16 

(quoting United States v. 829 Calle de Madero, 100 F.3d 734, 738 (10th Cir. 

1996)).

To understand and resolve the disagreement over the appropriate 

measure of excessiveness, we first review Supreme Court guidance in 

Austin and Bajakajian.

3 This argument differs from the State’s position prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s grant of 

certiorari. When the case was last before us, the State agreed with Timbs that the 

excessiveness inquiry includes a proportionality assessment.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 9 of 33

A. Supreme Court precedent provides guideposts.

In Austin, the Court recognized that the Excessive Fines Clause applies

to some in rem forfeitures, given those forfeitures’ punitive nature. 509 

U.S. at 621–22. In doing so, Austin confirmed that, even if in rem forfeitures 

were not historically deemed fines (thus placing them beyond the 

Excessive Fines Clause), they were understood, at least in part, as 

punishments. Id. at 618. Likewise, in rem forfeitures today may be 

punitive. So, after Austin, historical legal fictions behind traditional in rem

forfeitures do not prevent courts from recognizing when a modern in rem

forfeiture is a fine. See id. at 621–22.

But Austin did not prescribe how to determine the excessiveness of in 

rem fines. Id. at 622–23. It instead left that question to the lower courts, 

emphasizing that its decision “in no way limits” consideration of multiple 

factors in addition to whether the confiscated property has a close enough 

relationship to the offense. Id. at 623 n.15.

Five years after Austin, the Court in Bajakajian supplied a method for 

determining the excessiveness of an in personam fine—a punitive forfeiture 

obtained through an action against a person rather than against the 

property itself. United States v. Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321, 336–37 (1998).

There, the Court recognized that the principle of proportionality between 

crime and punishment is central to whether a fine is unconstitutional 

under the Excessive Fines Clause. Id. at 334 (citing Austin, 509 U.S. at 622–

23 and Alexander v. United States, 509 U.S. 544, 559 (1993)). And to 

determine whether certain forfeitures are excessive fines, a grossdisproportionality standard, as opposed to a strict-proportionality one, is 

appropriate. Id. at 336. Though Bajakajian did not concern an in rem

forfeiture, portions of its reasoning extend to modern in rem fines as well. 

Id. at 331 n.6, 334–37.

In Bajakajian, the forfeiture was based on a defendant’s conviction for 

failing to report that he was transporting over $10,000 in currency out of 

the United States. Id. at 325. The Government sought forfeiture of the 

$357,144 that the defendant failed to declare. Id.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 10 of 33

The Court observed that the forfeiture was a fine—it derived from the 

historical tradition of punitive, criminal forfeitures and was designed to 

punish the offender. Id. at 331–33. This punitive identity, the Court 

explained, made the forfeiture differ from traditional in rem forfeitures, 

which were considered nonpunitive and thus not fines. Id. But the Court 

noted, referencing Austin, that some modern in rem forfeitures are

punitive. Id. at 331 n.6 (citing 509 U.S. at 621–22).

The Court then turned to the measure of excessiveness and determined 

that “[t]he touchstone of the constitutional inquiry under the Excessive 

Fines Clause is the principle of proportionality.” Id. at 334. In reaching this 

determination, the Court looked to the text and history of the Excessive 

Fines Clause and acknowledged, by citing Austin, that the centrality of 

proportionality under the Clause applies to both in personam and in rem

fines. See id. at 334–35 (citing 509 U.S. at 622–23). The Court explained, 

though, that because the in personam forfeiture of the currency did not 

derive from a certain tradition of in rem forfeitures—one based on the 

property’s instrumental use in a crime—it was “irrelevant” whether the 

currency was an instrumentality, leaving proportionality as the sole 

determination for excessiveness. Id. at 333–34.

For the required level of proportionality, the Court supplied two main 

reasons for adopting gross disproportionality—instead of strict 

proportionality—as the appropriate measure of excessiveness: first, 

“judgments about the appropriate punishment for an offense belong in 

the first instance to the legislature”; and second, “any judicial 

determination regarding the gravity of a particular criminal offense will 

be inherently imprecise.” Id. at 336.

Applying the gross-disproportionality standard, the Court considered 

multiple factors. To start, the defendant’s offense was “solely a reporting 

offense” that was “unrelated to any other illegal activities.” Id. at 337–38. 

Next, the defendant did “not fit into the class of persons for whom the 

[criminal] statute was principally designed,” as he was not a money 

launderer, drug trafficker, or tax evader. Id. at 338. Furthermore, the 

maximum sentence the defendant could receive under the Federal 

Sentencing Guidelines (six months’ imprisonment and a $5,000 fine) 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 11 of 33

confirmed “a minimal level of culpability,” in part because that sentence 

was “but a fraction” of the maximum statutory penalty (five years’ 

imprisonment and a $250,000 fine). Id. at 338–39, 339 n.14. And finally, the 

harm from the defendant’s crime was minimal. Id. at 339.

Based on these factors, the Court concluded that the forfeiture of 

$357,144 would be “grossly disproportional” and thus constitutionally 

excessive. Id. at 339–40.

Mindful of these Supreme Court decisions, we now evaluate the 

parties’ arguments and provide a framework for determining whether 

forfeiture of Timbs’s vehicle would be excessive.

B. We reject the State’s instrumentality-only test.

The State’s position—that the excessiveness of a use-based in rem fine 

turns solely on whether the property was used in a crime—has found 

practically no traction among federal circuit and state supreme courts.

Rather, courts deciding this issue have almost uniformly held that the 

Excessive Fines Clause includes a proportionality limitation. See, e.g.,

United States v. Ferro, 681 F.3d 1105, 1115 (9th Cir. 2012); von Hofe v. United 

States, 492 F.3d 175, 184 (2d Cir. 2007); United States v. Dodge Caravan Grand 

SE/Sport Van, 387 F.3d 758, 762–63 (8th Cir. 2004); United States v. 45 

Claremont St., 395 F.3d 1, 6 (1st Cir. 2004) (per curiam); United States v. 

Wagoner Cty. Real Estate, 278 F.3d 1091, 1100 n.7, 1101 n.8 (10th Cir. 2002);

United States v. 817 N.E. 29th Dr., 175 F.3d 1304, 1309–10 (11th Cir. 1999);

Yskamp v. DEA, 163 F.3d 767, 773 (3d Cir. 1998); United States v. 415 E. 

Mitchell Ave., 149 F.3d 472, 477 (6th Cir. 1998).

And although the Fourth Circuit adopted a multi-factored 

“instrumentality test” that the South Carolina Supreme Court 

appropriated, even that test looks beyond the relationship between the 

property and the offense. See United States v. Chandler, 36 F.3d 358, 365 (4th 

Cir. 1994) (considering “the role and culpability of the owner”); Medlock v. 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 12 of 33

One 1985 Jeep Cherokee, 470 S.E.2d 373, 377 (S.C. 1996).4 The State points to 

no other federal circuit or state supreme court cases—and we have found 

none—that exclude a proportionality test from the excessiveness inquiry.

While courts’ excessiveness inquiries vary in structure, the vast 

majority focus on common considerations—like the nexus between the 

property and the offense, the gravity of the offense, the harshness of the 

penalty, and the claimant’s culpability. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. 1997 

Chevrolet, 160 A.3d 153, 190–92 (Pa. 2017); Stuart v. State Dep’t of Safety, 963 

S.W.2d 28, 35–36 (Tenn. 1998).

Also finding these considerations integral to the excessiveness inquiry, 

we hold that the Excessive Fines Clause includes both an instrumentality 

limitation and a proportionality one for use-based in rem fines. 

Specifically, to stay within the bounds of the Excessive Fines Clause, a 

use-based fine must meet two requirements: (1) the property must be the 

actual means by which an underlying offense was committed; and (2) the 

harshness of the forfeiture penalty must not be grossly disproportional to 

the gravity of the offense and the claimant’s culpability for the property’s 

misuse.

For an as-applied constitutional challenge like Timbs’s, this 

excessiveness inquiry arises in a specific procedural context. The State 

must first establish that the property is forfeitable under a statute; Indiana 

forfeiture statutes require the State to make this showing by a 

preponderance of the evidence.5 See I.C. § 34-24-1-4(a). If the State carries 

4 Though the Fourth Circuit’s Chandler decision has not been overruled, it has been called into 

doubt. Compare United States v. Brunk, 11 F. App’x 147, 148 (4th Cir. 2001) (per curiam), with 

United States v. Ahmad, 213 F.3d 805, 815 (4th Cir. 2000), and United States v. 300 Blue Heron 

Farm Lane, 115 F. Supp. 2d 525, 527 (D. Md. 2000).

5 The preponderance standard reflects a distinction between civil and criminal matters. See 

generally Ursery, 518 U.S. 267. We recognize, though, that the punitive nature of some in rem

proceedings may require us to confront—at some point—questions about whether the 

procedural requirements of in rem forfeitures comport with due process or other 

constitutional guarantees. Cf. Dept. of Law Enf’t v. Real Prop. Owned and/or Possessed by Chilinski, 

588 So.2d 957, 967–68 (Fla. 1991) (due process and jury trial); State v. Items of Real Prop., 383 

P.3d 236, 243–45 (Mont. 2016) (jury trial); State v. Nunez, 2 P.3d 264, 291–92 (N.M. 1999) (due 

process). See generally One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania, 380 U.S. 693, 700 (1965) (“[A] 

forfeiture proceeding is quasi-criminal in character. Its object, like a criminal proceeding, is to 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 13 of 33

this burden,6then the property is forfeitable unless the claimant 

overcomes the presumption that the statute is constitutional. For an asapplied challenge, the claimant must show the statute is unconstitutional 

as applied to the particular case, establishing the relevant facts by a 

preponderance of the evidence.

We detail in our analysis below how a court should determine whether 

the claimant has carried this burden. But ultimately, to establish that the 

statute is unconstitutional as applied under the Excessive Fines Clause, 

the claimant must demonstrate—for a use-based forfeiture—that the 

forfeiture is a fine that exceeds the Clause’s instrumentality and 

proportionality limitations and thus, “in justice[,] the punishment is more 

criminal than the crime.” 829 Calle de Madero, 100 F.3d at 738 (quoting 

United States v. Sarbello, 985 F.2d 716, 724 (3d Cir. 1993)). In short, the 

claimant must show either that the property was not an instrumentality 

or, if the property was an instrumentality, that the fine would be grossly 

disproportional.

Timbs does not argue that the State failed to carry its burden in 

establishing the Land Rover’s forfeitability under Section 1(a)(1)(A). He 

rather argues that the statute is unconstitutional as applied to the facts of 

this case. So, we now turn to the two parts of our excessiveness analysis.

C. Excessiveness depends on instrumentality and 

proportionality.

We take each excessiveness limitation in turn. We first explain why a 

use-based fine is excessive when the property was not an instrumentality 

penalize for the commission of an offense against the law.”); United States v. The Brig Burdett, 

34 U.S. (9 Pet.) 682, 691 (1835) (“No individual should be punished for a violation of law 

which inflicts a forfeiture of property, unless the offence shall be established beyond 

reasonable doubt.”). We do not confront such issues here, as neither party has argued them.

6 Many jurisdictions impose comparable burdens, though some state statutes impose more 

stringent requirements on the government. Compare 18 U.S.C. § 983(c) (2018), and $15,956 in 

U.S. Currency v. State, 233 S.W.3d 598, 601–02, 604 (Ark. 2006), and People ex rel. Hartrich v. 2010 

Harley-Davidson, 104 N.E.3d 1179, 1188 (Ill. 2018), with Cal. Health & Safety Code 

§§ 11488.4(i)(1), (2),(4), 11488.5(d) (West 2017), and Mich. Comp. Laws § 333.7521(2) (2016).
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 14 of 33

of the underlying offenses. We then explain why the Excessive Fines 

Clause includes a proportionality limitation, and we outline its contours.

1. A use-based fine is excessive if the property was not an 

instrumentality of the underlying crimes.

The State and Timbs agree that the Excessive Fines Clause requires the 

property of a use-based in rem fine to be a criminal instrumentality. We 

also agree. We arrive at this conclusion based on the history of in rem and 

in personam forfeitures.

The tradition of civil in rem forfeitures “tracks the tainted-untainted 

line.” Luis v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 1083, 1100 (2016) (Thomas, J., 

concurring in judgment). In that tradition, assets have been historically 

forfeitable either because they are “tainted” as fruits or instrumentalities 

of crime, or because they are proportional to the tainted property’s value. 

See Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 329–30, 340–41; id. at 345–46, 352 (Kennedy, J., 

dissenting); United States v. 92 Buena Vista Ave., 507 U.S. 111, 121 & n.15 

(1993) (plurality opinion). By contrast, in personam forfeitures have been 

historically predicated on the defendant’s conviction for a criminal 

offense. See Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 332; Austin, 509 U.S. at 612–13; Ursery, 

518 U.S. at 294 (Kennedy, J., concurring). Because the historical basis for 

an in rem forfeiture is the property’s “taint” as a fruit or instrumentality of 

crime, we hold that an in rem fine lacking that basis is excessive.7

Here, the State sought forfeiture of Timbs’s Land Rover based on its 

“taint” from its use in crime. The fine is thus excessive if the vehicle is not 

“tainted” as a criminal instrumentality—which depends on two questions.

First, in what crimes must the property have been instrumental? And 

second, under what circumstances does the property’s involvement in 

7 We note that, when property is tainted because it is a fruit of crime (versus a criminal 

instrumentality), it may not be a fine. For example, forfeiture of criminal proceeds may be 

entirely remedial—not at all punitive—and so outside the scope of the Excessive Fines Clause. 

See, e.g., United States v. Berryhill Farm Estates, 128 F.3d 1386, 1395–96 (10th Cir. 1997); United 

States v. Alexander, 32 F.3d 1231, 1236 (8th Cir. 1994). The property in question here, however, 

was not the fruit of a criminal enterprise, as Timbs purchased the Land Rover with lawful 

funds from his father’s life insurance policy.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 15 of 33

those crimes render it an instrumentality? We take each question in turn, 

applying it to the facts of Timbs’s case.

a. The relevant crimes are those on which the State 

bases its forfeiture case.

Given that the foundation for an in rem forfeiture is the property’s 

“taint” from crime, we hold that the relevant crimes for the 

instrumentality inquiry are those on which the State bases its forfeiture 

case. Cf. United States v. 427 & 429 Hall St., 74 F.3d 1165, 1169 (11th Cir. 

1996). This principle is reflected in the challenged forfeiture statute, which 

requires the State to establish the crimes in which the property was “used 

or . . . intended for use.” I.C. § 34-24-1-1(a)(1).

As explained later, other related criminal conduct may affect the 

proportionality portion of the excessiveness analysis; but the 

instrumentality portion focuses solely on the crimes the government 

establishes to prove the property was used in a crime. This is roughly 

analogous to an in personam excessiveness analysis, in which related 

criminal conduct may affect the proportionality determination, but the 

foundation for the in personam forfeiture depends on the defendant’s 

conviction for certain crimes—the crimes the government charged, 

prosecuted, and proved.

The State and Timbs disagree about which crimes are relevant for the 

instrumentality inquiry. The State argues that Timbs’s repeated possession 

and dealing of heroin—multiple offenses listed under Section 1(a)(1)(A)—

are relevant to whether the Land Rover is a criminal instrumentality. 

Timbs maintains that the State conceded at oral argument that the 

predicate offense was only the first controlled buy.

Had the State not conceded that it based its forfeiture case on only one 

offense, we may have had to decide whether the State based its forfeiture 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 16 of 33

case on multiple drug offenses listed under Section 1(a)(1)(A).8 But Timbs 

is right about the State’s concession that it based the forfeiture case solely 

on the dealing that occurred on May 6—the only deal he drove to. We 

therefore treat this single offense as the predicate crime on which the 

State’s forfeiture case—and thus the instrumentality inquiry—depends.

We accordingly move on to the next instrumentality inquiry: did the 

Land Rover’s involvement in the May 6 dealing offense render it an 

instrumentality of that crime?

b. Property is an instrumentality if it was the actual 

means by which an underlying crime was committed.

The historical foundation of in rem forfeitures places a limit on what 

property qualifies as an “instrumentality.” See Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 333 

n.8. Specifically, property is a criminal instrumentality only if “it was the 

actual means by which an offense was committed.” Id. Thus, a claimant

may establish excessiveness by showing that the property was not the 

actual means by which any of the crimes on which the government based 

its case were committed. Importantly, this instrumentality requirement is 

constitutional and independent of the statutory requirements for 

forfeiture.9

Supreme Court opinions offer illustrative guidance on what does—and 

does not—meet the actual-means requirement. For example, for an offense 

of removing, depositing, or concealing goods to avoid taxes, a vehicle 

8 While the State must provide sufficient notice to the claimant, a case for forfeiture under 

Section 1(a)(1)(A) may rest on any of the crimes listed in that provision. See generally KS&E 

Sports v. Runnels, 72 N.E.3d 892, 901 (Ind. 2017); Fed. R. Civ. P. Supp. R. E(2)(a); United States 

v. Mondragon, 313 F.3d 862 (4th Cir. 2002). Here, the State’s forfeiture complaint and 

presentation of evidence may have predicated the forfeiture case on the Land Rover’s use to 

commit multiple possession and dealing offenses. And Timbs does not contend that the 

State’s pleading was insufficient or that the State failed to present adequate evidence that the 

vehicle was used to possess a narcotic drug, see I.C. § 34-24-1-1(a)(1)(A)(viii).

9 The State asserts that the forfeiture statute supplies the measure of instrumentality. In other 

words, that if the statutory conditions are met, so, too, is the constitutional instrumentality 

requirement. We disagree. Forfeiture statutes may include a requirement mirroring the 

constitutional instrumentality limit, but the Excessive Fines Clause’s actual-means restriction

stands independent of statutory requirements for use-based forfeitures.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 17 of 33

used to transport and conceal the goods would be an instrumentality. Id.

at 334 n.9 (citing J.W. Goldsmith, Jr.–Grant Co. v. United States, 254 U.S. 505, 

508 (1921)). Similarly, for an unlawful drug sale, scales used to measure 

out the drugs would be an instrumentality. Austin, 509 U.S. at 627–28 

(Scalia, J., concurring in part and in the judgment).

In contrast, the mere presence of property in a crime does not make the 

property an instrumentality. See, e.g., Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 334 n.9

(acknowledging that while certain property may satisfy a precondition to 

an offense’s commission, that fact alone may not make the property an 

instrumentality). And for property that is divisible, it may be that only 

part of the property was the actual means by which a crime was 

committed. See id. at 333 n.8; cf. Rufus Waples, A Treatise on Proceedings 

in Rem 252 (1882) (“If only one acre of a tract of land containing a 

hundred acres[] is used in contravention of law, only that acre can be 

rightfully condemned.”).

Timbs argues that the Land Rover was not instrumental in the May 6 

dealing offense because the vehicle “had only an ‘incidental and 

fortuitous’ link” to the crime. Timbs Opening Br. at 17 (quoting 1997 

Chevrolet, 160 A.3d at 185). He reasons that, although he drove the vehicle 

to the drug sale, it was just a five-minute drive from his residence. He also 

reasons that the vehicle is much like a building in which an isolated drug 

sale happens to occur—because the vehicle was no more instrumental to 

the drug sale than the apartment in which the sale took place. Id. at 17 

(citing Austin, 509 U.S. at 628 (Scalia, J., concurring in part and in the

judgment)).

We disagree that the Land Rover was not the actual means by which 

the dealing offense was committed. It is true that the distance Timbs drove 

to the sale may have been short, and perhaps Timbs could have walked. 

But he used the vehicle not only to get himself and the drugs to the 

location where the deal would take place, but also to obtain the drugs for 

the sale.

In sum, the Land Rover was the actual means by which the predicate 

crime was committed, making the vehicle an instrumentality. And so, its 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 18 of 33

forfeiture falls within the Excessive Fines Clause’s instrumentality limit 

for use-based fines.

The State argues that this is the end of the excessiveness inquiry. As 

mentioned earlier, we disagree and join the many courts recognizing that

the Excessive Fines Clause also includes a proportionality limitation. 

Before elaborating on the proportionality test for use-based fines, though, 

we first explain why we reject the State’s argument that we should confine 

the excessiveness inquiry to an instrumentality test alone.

2. The Excessive Fines Clause imposes a proportionality 

limitation on punitive instrumentality forfeitures.

In arguing that excessiveness depends only on whether the property is 

a criminal instrumentality, the State relies on history: for hundreds of 

years, no court applied a proportionality requirement to any in rem

forfeiture. So, the State concludes that “there is no historical grounding” to 

recognize a proportionality limitation alongside the instrumentality one. 

Oral Argument at 10:57–11:01, State v. Timbs (June 28, 2019),

https://perma.cc/B57E-H5JC.

We agree with the State that we should “look at the historical roots of in 

rem forfeiture[] . . . as a guide” for determining excessiveness. Id. at 11:20.

But in doing so, we will not ignore how far removed today’s in rem

forfeitures are from their traditional roots. See United States v. James Daniel 

Good Real Prop., 510 U.S. 43, 82 (1993) (Thomas, J., concurring in part and 

dissenting in part) (recognizing that the modern in rem forfeiture practice 

under a federal drug-abuse forfeiture statute “appears to be far removed 

from the legal fiction upon which the civil forfeiture doctrine is based”). 

“[A]mbitious modern statutes and prosecutorial practices have all but 

detached themselves from the ancient notion of civil forfeiture.” Id. at 85.

Indeed, the way Indiana carries out civil forfeitures is both concerning, 

see Horner v. Curry, 125 N.E.3d 584, 612 (Ind. 2019) (Slaughter, J., 

concurring in the judgment), and symptomatic of a shift in in rem

forfeiture law and practice. See also Leonard v. Texas, 137 S. Ct. 847, 849 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 19 of 33

(2017) (Thomas, J., respecting denial of certiorari) (observing differences 

between traditional and modern in rem forfeiture practices). Compare 

Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 333 (observing that in rem forfeitures were 

traditionally considered nonpunitive), with Austin, 509 U.S. at 621–22 

(acknowledging that in rem forfeiture may be—and sometimes is—

punitive).

Recognizing this departure, we conclude that the Excessive Fines 

Clause places not only an instrumentality limit on use-based fines, but 

also a proportionality one. We reach this conclusion based on the text and 

history of the Excessive Fines Clause, the history of in rem forfeitures, and 

Supreme Court precedent.

a. The text and history of the Excessive Fines Clause

favor proportionality.

The text and history of the Excessive Fines Clause run counter to the 

State’s instrumentality-only test.

The text of the Eighth Amendment provides, “Excessive bail shall not 

be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual 

punishments inflicted.” U.S. Cont. amend. VIII. The word “[e]xcessive 

means surpassing the usual, the proper, or a normal measure of 

proportion.” Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 335 (citing dictionary definitions). 

Thus, the text contemplates some measure of proportionality.

So does its history. The Clause’s precursor in the English Bill of Rights 

sought to protect against penalties that were exorbitant and out of 

proportion with the punished person’s wrongdoing. Id. The provision also 

reaffirmed Magna Carta’s guarantee that “[a] Free-man shall not be 

amerced for a small fault, but after the manner of the fault; and for a great 

fault after the greatness thereof, saving to him his contenement”—a 

guarantee that “required that economic sanctions ‘be proportioned to the 

wrong’ and ‘not be so large as to deprive [an offender] of his livelihood.’” 

Timbs, 139 S. Ct. at 687–88 (alterations in original) (first quoting Magna 

Carta, § 20, 9 Hen. III, ch. 14, in 1 Eng. Stat. at Large 5 (1225); then quoting 

Browning-Ferris, 492 U.S. at 271).
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 20 of 33

The Court in Bajakajian accordingly reasoned that “[t]he text and 

history of the Excessive Fines Clause demonstrate the centrality of 

proportionality to the excessiveness inquiry.” 524 U.S. at 335. Although

the Court was analyzing an in personam forfeiture, the text and history of 

the Excessive Fines Clause apply to both in personam and punitive in rem

forfeitures. See generally Timbs, 139 S. Ct. at 686–91 (observing that the 

right guaranteed by the Excessive Fines Clause is deeply rooted). Thus, 

proportionality is central to the excessiveness inquiry not only for in 

personam forfeitures but also for punitive in rem forfeitures. See Bajakajian, 

524 U.S. at 334 (citing Austin, 509 U.S. at 622–23).

This leads us to another reason we reject the State’s instrumentalityonly test: the history of in rem forfeitures does not limit the excessiveness 

inquiry as the State contends.

b. The history of traditional in rem forfeitures does not 

exclude a proportionality limit.

The history of in rem forfeitures does not justify omitting 

proportionality from the excessiveness analysis. The primary reason is 

that the “guilty property” fiction behind traditional in rem forfeitures no 

longer shields in rem forfeitures from review for excessiveness.

Early United States statutes authorized forfeiture of property linked to 

various legal transgressions. See, e.g., 1 Stat. 137, § 3 (1790) (trade with 

native peoples); 1 Stat. 199, § 10 (1791) (transporting distilled spirits); 1 

Stat. 347, § 1 (1794) (slave trade); 1 Stat. 369, § 2 (1794) (arms exports); 1 

Stat. 381, § 3 (1794) (war neutrality). Stylizing these statutory forfeitures in 

rem rather than in personam was sometimes necessary to enforce the law—

because the person responsible for a violation was not always within the 

personal jurisdiction of the United States. See Austin, 509 U.S. at 615–16 n.9 

(“The fictions of in rem forfeiture were developed primarily to expand the 

reach of the courts.” (quoting Republic Nat’l Bank of Miami v. United States, 

506 U.S. 80, 87 (1992))). In those cases, bringing a forfeiture action against 

the property was “the only adequate means of suppressing the offence or 

wrong.” Harmony v. United States, 43 U.S. (2 How.) 210, 233 (1844).
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 21 of 33

Because in rem actions were brought against the property, “the conduct 

of the property owner was irrelevant” in the sense that—even when the 

responsible party was within jurisdictional reach—the property could be 

forfeited without the owner having violated the law. Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 

330; see, e.g., Origet v. United States, 125 U.S. 240, 246 (1888); Harmony, 43 

U.S. (2 How.) at 233; The Palmyra, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 1, 14–15 (1827). 

Nevertheless, the owner’s culpability may have played a role in whether 

the property could be forfeited. See Austin, 509 U.S. at 616–17.

The Supreme Court often explained traditional in rem forfeitures using 

a “guilty property” fiction—that the inanimate property itself was guilty 

of the offense. Id. at 616. This fiction accurately reflected two distinctive 

features of in rem forfeitures: first, the actions focused on the property’s 

relationship to the legal transgression (that is, the property’s taint from a 

violation); and second, the forfeitures were not conditioned on the owner 

having been convicted for the transgression. See, e.g., Origet, 125 U.S. at

245–46; Palmyra, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) at 14–15; The Meteor, 17 F. Cas. 178, 

181–82 (C.C.S.D.N.Y. 1866) (No. 9498).

But as venerable as the “guilty property” fiction was, it may have 

contributed to a false classification of all in rem forfeitures as 

“nonpunitive” and thus, “outside the domain of the Excessive Fines 

Clause.” Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 331. While some in rem forfeitures may 

have been nonpunitive, many went beyond remedying the harm done, 

punishing owners for the lawbreaking. See, e.g., 1 Stat. 384 § 18 (1794) 

(authorizing forfeiture—as a consequence for unshipped sugar and snuff 

dispatched for export—of unshipped property, ships, guns, furniture, 

ammunition, tackle, and apparel). Indeed, the Supreme Court recognized 

that the in rem forfeiture procedure was at times “a highly penal one,” 

requiring the government to establish “the infractions of the law . . . 

beyond reasonable doubt.” United States v. The Brig Burdett, 34 U.S. (9 Pet.) 

682, 690 (1835); see also The Emily & the Caroline, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 381, 389 

(1824).

Thus, regardless of their classification, in rem forfeitures were 

ultimately understood, at least in part, as punishment. Austin, 509 U.S. at 

618. And, although a blanket “nonpunitive” classification may have
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 22 of 33

shielded traditional in rem forfeitures from constitutional excessiveness 

review—by designating all in rem forfeitures as not fines—this is no longer 

the case. Austin confirmed that shift.

Adding to the removal of the guilty-property fiction as a barrier to 

excessiveness review, expansion of in rem practices has ushered the 

excessiveness question into judicial view. Procedural safeguards may 

have tempered traditional in rem forfeitures and insulated them from 

constitutional challenge. See, e.g., Burdett, 34 U.S. (9 Pet.) at 690; Emily, 22 

U.S. (9 Wheat.) at 389. See generally Kevin Arlyck, The Founders’ Forfeiture, 

119 Colum. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2019). But in recent decades, the absence 

of certain shields against the oppressive use of civil forfeiture has 

encouraged the widened use of aggressive in rem forfeiture practices—

which, in turn, has sparked criticism. See Leonard, 137 S. Ct. at 848 

(Thomas, J., respecting denial of certiorari); Sargent v. State, 27 N.E.3d 729, 

735 (Ind. 2015) (Massa, J., dissenting) (noting that forfeiture practices “are 

not without their critics, and their misuse invites further scrutiny”). See 

generally Timbs, 139 S. Ct. at 688–89 (observing the potential of fines to be 

used for retaliating against or chilling speech and for raising revenue 

apart from generally applicable taxes).

As a result of these changes in the law and practice surrounding in rem

forfeitures, the question we face concerning the excessiveness of in rem 

fines is a new one—one that traditional in rem forfeitures did not prompt 

and that the Supreme Court did not answer. Thus, the history of in rem

forfeitures does not establish that an instrumentality-only test is 

appropriate for today’s use-based fines.

Despite the text and history we’ve just addressed, the State maintains

that the Excessive Fines Clause either does not apply to in rem forfeitures 

at all or requires only that the property forfeited be a criminal 

instrumentality. The State acknowledges that Austin precludes the first of 

these positions. And we recognize that the second position creates tension 

with both Austin and Bajakajian—which is the final reason we reject the 

State’s instrumentality-only test.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 23 of 33

c. The State’s instrumentality-only test would create 

tension with Supreme Court precedent.

Both Austin and Bajakajian recognized that some in rem forfeitures 

punish property owners and are thus fines within the scope of the 

Excessive Fines Clause. Austin, 509 U.S. at 621–22; Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 

333 n.8. Bajakajian further recognized that proportionality (which involves 

consideration of the claimant’s culpability) is central to constitutionality

under the Clause. 524 U.S. at 334. And the Court hinged its reasoning 

largely on the punitive nature of in personam forfeitures—a punitive 

nature that also exists in in rem fines. See id. at 330–34, 331 n.6. 

Accordingly, the State’s instrumentality-only test for in rem fines would 

create tension with these cases by excluding the claimant’s culpability—

and other components of proportionality—from the excessiveness inquiry.

We see this tension most clearly in the case of a blameless owner. The 

Supreme Court has left open the question of whether the Excessive Fines 

Clause prohibits punitive forfeitures of property from innocent owners. 

Cf. Austin, 509 U.S. at 616–17, 617 n.10. So, it may be that (1) forfeiting an 

innocent owner’s lawfully owned property punishes the owner; and (2) if 

the owner is completely blameless for the property’s criminal “taint,” the 

forfeiture is necessarily excessive—because it punishes someone who has 

done nothing wrong. And while we don’t need to answer the innocentowner inquiry (because Timbs is not an innocent owner), the State’s test 

would close the door to that question by dictating an answer: regardless of 

the owner’s blameworthiness, the forfeiture would never be excessive so 

long as the property was instrumental in a crime.10

Ultimately, what flows from Austin and Bajakajian is this: the claimant’s 

culpability is a consideration in analyzing the excessiveness of an in rem 

fine. While the basis for the forfeiture is the property’s misuse, the 

10 In defending its test, the State reasons that statutes provide innocent-owner defenses and 

that the public would not stand for legislation authorizing forfeiture of a vehicle for an offense 

as minor as speeding. These assurances, even if accurate, are beside the point. See I.C. §§ 34-

24-1-1(e), -4(a) (providing an “innocent owner” provision only when the property is a 

vehicle). The question is not whether blameless owners have any protection against forfeiture 

when someone else has misused their property. It is whether the Excessive Fines Clause 

certainly does not supply such a safeguard.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 24 of 33

punishment is imposed on the claimant, whose property becomes the 

government’s and whom the Excessive Fines Clause protects.

For these reasons, we disagree with the State that excessiveness 

depends solely on whether the property was an instrumentality; it 

depends also on proportionality.

3. An instrumentality forfeiture is excessive if—based on 

the totality of the circumstances—the harshness of the 

punishment is grossly disproportional to the gravity of 

the offenses and the claimant’s culpability.

Most courts addressing the excessiveness of in rem fines have followed 

Bajakajian in applying a gross-disproportionality standard—versus 

another standard like strict proportionality. We likewise find a grossdisproportionality standard appropriate.

The logic behind Bajakajian’s adoption of the gross-proportionality 

measure for in personam forfeitures applies to in rem fines as well. After all, 

much like in personam forfeitures, in rem fines are “punishment for some 

offense,” Browning-Ferris, 492 U.S. at 265, so any standard of 

proportionality implicates the relationship between the crime and the 

punishment’s magnitude. And for in rem fines, gross disproportionality is 

the appropriate measure because, as with in personam forfeitures, 

“judgments about the appropriate punishment for an offense belong in 

the first instance to the legislature” and “any judicial determination 

regarding the gravity of a particular criminal offense will be inherently 

imprecise.” Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 336.

Thus, we hold that gross disproportionality—not strict 

proportionality—is the appropriate standard for assessing whether an in 

rem instrumentality forfeiture is excessive. However, two key differences

between in rem and in personam forfeitures warrant two corresponding

differences in their respective proportionality tests.

First, in personam forfeitures concern defendants who have been found 

guilty of committing an underlying crime; so the underlying conviction 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 25 of 33

has established their culpability and the extent of their involvement in the 

crime. By contrast, in rem forfeitures concern owners who may not have 

committed the underlying crime; and thus, their culpability and extent of 

involvement in the crime have not been previously established by a 

conviction that serves as the basis for the forfeiture. For this reason, while

the gross-disproportionality inquiry for in personam forfeitures considers 

“the gravity of the defendant’s offense,” id. at 337, the inquiry for punitive

in rem forfeitures considers the gravity of the predicate offenses and the 

owner’s culpability for the property’s use in that criminal enterprise.

Second, an in rem forfeiture may be substantially remedial in nature, 

contrasting with an in personam forfeiture that “serves no remedial 

purpose,” id. at 332. Thus, whereas the gross-disproportionality inquiry 

for in personam forfeitures considers the whole amount of the forfeiture, id.

at 336–37, the inquiry for in rem forfeitures focuses precisely on the 

harshness of the punishment that the forfeiture imposes.

In sum, the proportionality limitation for use-based in rem fines is this: 

based on the totality of the circumstances, if the punitive value of the 

forfeiture is grossly disproportional to the gravity of the underlying 

offenses and the owner’s culpability for the property’s criminal use, the 

fine is unconstitutionally excessive. Cf. id.

a. The proportionality assessment entails three 

considerations.

While the gross-disproportionality assessment is fact intensive and 

depends on the totality of the circumstances, it involves three 

considerations. We take each in turn, providing non-exclusive factors 

courts may take into account.

i. Harshness of the Punishment

As mentioned above, use-based in rem fines may be both remedial and 

punitive. Whether they are subject to an excessiveness analysis in the first 

place depends on a categorical analysis of the applicable forfeiture statute.

See Austin, 509 U.S. at 621–22, 622 n.14. But whether they are excessive
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 26 of 33

depends in part on the degree to which they are remedial or punitive. The 

more remedial a forfeiture is, the less punishment it imposes. Thus, when 

determining the harshness of the punishment, a court’s assessment may 

include the following:

• the extent to which the forfeiture would remedy the harm caused;

• the property’s role in the underlying offenses;

• the property’s use in other activities, criminal or lawful;

• the property’s market value;

• other sanctions imposed on the claimant; and

• effects the forfeiture will have on the claimant.

A couple of these considerations warrant additional explanation.

The State maintains that the property’s value and the respondent’s 

economic means ought to be excluded from consideration. We cannot 

agree.

To conduct a proportionality analysis at all, we need to consider the 

punishment’s magnitude. And the owner’s economic means—relative to 

the property’s value—is an appropriate consideration for determining that 

magnitude. To hold the opposite would generate a new fiction: that taking 

away the same piece of property from a billionaire and from someone 

who owns nothing else punishes each person equally.

That said, an owner may be able to prove gross disproportionality 

without presenting evidence on wealth, income, or the deprivation of 

one’s livelihood. See, e.g., Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 339–40, 340 n.15. 

Conversely, if an owner does not make certain showings on these matters, 

the court may determine that the owner failed to show gross 

disproportionality.

11

11 Notably, consideration of a person’s economic situation is not a foreign practice for courts. 

When economic sanctions are imposed, even when the sanctions are remedial, courts 

regularly do not turn a blind eye to a person’s economic resources. For example, when 

imposing court costs, a trial court in Indiana “shall conduct a hearing to determine whether 

the convicted person is indigent.” Ind. Code § 33-37-2-3 (2018). When a person is required to 

make restitution or reparation as a condition of probation, the amount “may not exceed an 

amount the person can or will be able to pay.” I.C. § 35-38-2-2.3(a)(6). See generally Bell v. State, 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 27 of 33

We recognize that the Court in Bajakajian took no position on whether a 

person’s income and wealth are relevant considerations in judging the 

excessiveness of a fine. It noted that the defendant had not argued that his 

wealth or income were relevant to the proportionality determination; nor 

had he argued that the full forfeiture would deprive him of his livelihood. 

Id. at 340 n.15. And it observed that the district court made no findings on 

those matters. Id.

But the historical roots of the Excessive Fines Clause reveal concern for 

the economic effects a fine would have on the punished individual.

Magna Carta—from which the Clause derives—specifically contemplated

an economic sanction’s effect on the wrongdoer, requiring “that 

amercements (the medieval predecessors of fines) should be proportioned 

to the offense and that they should not deprive a wrongdoer of his 

livelihood.” Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 335. Likewise, the abuses of sovereign 

power that led to the English Bill of Rights included the Star Chamber’s 

imposition of heavy fines “in disregard ‘of the provision of the Great 

Charter, that no man shall be amerced even to the full extent of his 

means,’” Timbs, 139 S. Ct. at 694 (Thomas, J., concurring in judgment)

(quoting 2 Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the 

Accession of Henry VII to the Death of George II 46–47 (2d ed. 1829)); see also 4 

William Blackstone, Commentaries *372 (“[N]o man shall have a larger 

amercement imposed upon him, than his circumstances or personal estate 

will bear . . . .”), quoted in Timbs, 139 S. Ct. at 688.

For these reasons, the forfeiture’s effect on the owner is an appropriate 

consideration in determining the harshness of the forfeiture’s punishment.

We next examine the pair of considerations that stand on the opposite side 

59 N.E.3d 959 (Ind. 2016). And when civil punitive damages are at issue, the defendant’s 

financial circumstances are an appropriate consideration. See Stroud v. Lints, 790 N.E.2d 440, 

445–46 (Ind. 2003); id. at 446 (“The defendant’s wealth is ordinarily cited as a reason to 

escalate a punitive award, and that is consistent with the goal of deterrence. But that door 

swings both ways. An award that not only hurts but permanently cripples the defendant goes 

too far.”). See generally National Task Force on Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices, Principles on 

Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices 6 (2016), 

https://www.ncsc.org/~/media/Files/PDF/Topics/Fines%20and%20Fees/Principles%

201%2017%2019.ashx [https://perma.cc/E838-226A].
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 28 of 33

of the proportionality scales: the severity of the underlying offenses and 

the claimant’s culpability for the property’s criminal use.

ii. Severity of the Offenses

When considering the severity of the underlying offenses, statutory 

penalties, sentencing guidelines, and trial courts’ sentencing decisions 

supply important cues. For example, the maximum statutory penalty for 

an offense suggests the appropriate sentence for those who commit the 

worst variants of the crime. Sentencing guidelines may supply more 

detailed information about the appropriate sentence for the crime 

underlying the forfeiture. And if someone was convicted for the offense, 

the sentence actually imposed may provide even more precise insight into 

the offense’s severity, including whether the offender “fit into the class of 

persons for whom the [criminal] statute was principally designed.” 

Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 338.

Accordingly, when determining the severity of the offense, a court’s 

assessment may include the following:

• the seriousness of the statutory offense, considering statutory 

penalties;

• the seriousness of the specific crime committed compared to other 

variants of the offense, considering any sentences imposed;

• the harm caused by the crime committed; and

• the relationship of the offense to other criminal activity.

In the proportionality analysis, the severity of the offense must be 

considered alongside the owner’s culpability.

iii. Claimant’s Culpability

The culpability consideration focuses on the claimant’s 

blameworthiness for the property’s use as an instrumentality of the 

underlying offenses. As mentioned above, if a claimant is entirely 

innocent of the property’s misuse, that fact alone may render a use-based 

in rem fine excessive. On the other end of the spectrum is a claimant who 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 29 of 33

used the property to commit the underlying offenses. In between these 

poles is a range of blameworthiness for the property’s criminal use. See 

von Hofe, 492 F.3d at 187–89. Thus, a court should consider where, in this 

range, the claimant’s culpability lies.

Although we’ve outlined the considerations and certain relevant factors 

for the gross-disproportionality assessment applicable to use-based in rem 

fines, we must also observe how that inquiry is distinct from a grossdisproportionality analysis under the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and 

Unusual Punishments Clause.

b. The Excessive Fines Clause and the Cruel and 

Unusual Punishments Clause impose distinct 

gross-disproportionality limits.

While a gross-disproportionality standard operates in both the Cruel 

and Unusual Punishments Clause and the Excessive Fines Clause, the two 

clauses are independent, imposing parallel—rather than interlinked—

limits on the government’s power to punish. See Browning-Ferris, 492 U.S. 

at 263.

Thus, a use-based fine may be excessive even if a person would 

presumably prefer the fine over a term of imprisonment that would not 

violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause. We observe three 

reasons why excessiveness under the Excessive Fines Clause does not turn 

on what is prohibited by the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause. See 

Alexander, 509 U.S. at 558–59 (observing that a certain rule applicable to 

the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments does not apply to 

an Excessive Fines Clause analysis).

First, the Framers of our Constitution erected, in the Eighth 

Amendment, multiple, separate barricades against the government’s 

punishing power. This structure alone reveals that one limit is not the 

measure of the other. Indeed, if analysis under the Cruel and Unusual 

Punishments Clause dictates the analysis and outcome under the 

Excessive Fines Clause, then the Excessive Fines Clause is superfluous or 

hollow. See Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Garner, Reading Law: The 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 30 of 33

Interpretation of Legal Texts 174–79 (2012); cf. United States v. Butler, 297 

U.S. 1, 65 (1936) (“These words cannot be meaningless, else they would 

not have been used.”); Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957, 978 n.9 (1991) 

(opinion of Scalia, J.). In other words, because a fine is a punishment for 

some offense, equating “excessive” with “cruel and unusual” would mean 

that the Excessive Fines Clause provides no protection different from the 

Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause.

Second, comparing in rem fines to non-fines is inapposite—like asking 

whether a fine is somehow less expensive than a sentence is lengthy. To be 

sure, the economic nature of fines warrants protection distinct and 

independent from the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause, as the 

government often stands to benefit from fines. And this incentive creates a 

danger “that fines, uniquely of all punishments, will be imposed in a 

measure out of accord with the penal goals of retribution and deterrence.” 

Harmelin, 501 U.S. at 979 n.9 (opinion of Scalia, J.), quoted in part in Timbs, 

139 S. Ct. at 689. Reflecting this particular danger, some early state 

constitutions prohibited excessive fines without limiting other forms of 

punishment. Id.

Another difference distinguishes criminal punishment from in rem

fines: criminal punishment is imposed for the commission of a crime; in 

rem fines are imposed for the claimant’s role in the property’s use in a 

crime. See Ursery, 518 U.S. at 294 (Kennedy, J., concurring) (“[T]he 

instrumentality-forfeiture statutes are not directed at those who carry out 

the crimes, but at owners who are culpable for the criminal misuse of the 

property.”). Thus, although both gross-disproportionality standards are 

high bars for establishing unconstitutionality, the conduct punished is 

different, creating different data points for the proportionality 

assessments.

Finally, maintaining independent analyses for the two Clauses aligns 

with the Supreme Court’s reasoning in Bajakajian. Although the Court

drew upon the gross-disproportionality standard articulated in Cruel and 

Unusual Punishments Clause precedents, it did not say that it was 

importing the underlying cruel-and-unusual-punishment analysis. See 

Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 336. While the Court recognized that prison-term 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 31 of 33

sentences prescribed for certain offenses are clues to the gravity of an 

offense, id. at 339 n.14, it did not supply a conversion rate for dollars to 

years of imprisonment. Indeed, it did not reason that $357,144 (the 

amount of the forfeiture) equated to a prison term that would be cruel and 

unusual punishment. Id. at 339–40; accord Alexander, 509 U.S. at 558–59.

Underscoring that the proportionality inquiry in this case is distinct 

from a Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause proportionality inquiry, 

we now turn to the facts of this case.

c. The trial court must apply the outlined

proportionality test to the facts of Timbs’s case.

We have in the record some information about the harshness of the 

forfeiture’s punishment, the severity of the offense, and Timbs’s 

culpability for the Land Rover’s misuse. For example, the State 

acknowledged “most of what is occurring here is punitive,” rather than 

remedial. The criminal case file (of which the trial court took judicial 

notice) indicates Timbs was indigent and lacked income and savings. And 

we know both the statutory penalties tied to the underlying Class B felony 

and the sentence that the criminal court imposed on Timbs for his 

commission of that offense.

But the proportionality analysis we’ve outlined is factually intensive 

and depends on the totality of the circumstances. Because the trial court 

did not have the benefit of this analytical framework, we do not have the 

benefit of a record (including factual findings) developed in light of the 

appropriate analytical structure.

We therefore remand to the trial court for further proceedings

consistent with this opinion and to apply the proportionality test to the 

facts of this case. Specifically, when the trial court applies the 

proportionality test, the court must determine whether Timbs has 

overcome his burden to establish that the harshness of the forfeiture’s 

punishment is not only disproportional, but grossly disproportional, to 

the gravity of the underlying dealing offense and his culpability for the 

Land Rover’s corresponding criminal use.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 32 of 33

Conclusion

Over twenty-five years ago, the Supreme Court of the United States 

unanimously held that in rem forfeitures can be punitive and, thus, fines 

subject to the Eighth Amendment’s excessiveness limitation. It left to 

lower courts the task of establishing the appropriate measure of

excessiveness—a task that we take up today.

We accordingly hold that a use-based in rem fine is excessive if (1) the 

property was not an instrumentality of the underlying crimes, or (2) the 

property was an instrumentality, but the harshness of the punishment 

would be grossly disproportional to the gravity of the underlying offenses

and the owner’s culpability for the property’s misuse.

Here, Timbs’s Land Rover was an instrumentality of the underlying 

offense of drug dealing. But we remand for the trial court to answer the 

question of gross disproportionality based on the framework we set out.

We thus vacate and remand.

David, Massa, and Goff, JJ., concur.

Slaughter, J., dissents with separate opinion.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 33 of 33

A T T O R N E YS F O R A P P E L L A N T

Curtis T. Hill, Jr.

Attorney General of Indiana

Thomas M. Fisher

Solicitor General

Kian J. Hudson

Deputy Solicitor General

Aaron T. Craft

Chandra K. Hein

Julia C. Payne

Justin F. Roebel

Deputy Attorneys General

Indianapolis, Indiana

A T T O R N E Y S F O R A P P E L L E E

Samuel B. Gedge

Institute for Justice

Arlington, Virginia

Wesley Hottot

Institute for Justice

Seattle, Washington

J. Lee McNeely

Cynthia A. Bedrick

Scott A. Milkey

McNeely Stephenson

Shelbyville, Indiana

David W. Stone IV

Stone Law Office & Legal Research

Anderson, Indiana

A T T O R N E Y S F O R A M I C I C U R I A E A M E R I C A N C I V I L L I B E R T I E S 

U N I O N , C A T O I N S T I T U T E , D R U G P O L I C Y A L L I A N C E , F I N E S A N D 

F E E S J U S T I C E C E N T E R , L A W E N F O R C E M E N T A C T I O N 

P A R T N E R S H I P , & R S T R E E T I N S T I T U T E

Joshua S. Lipshutz

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Washington, D.C.

Brian J. Paul

Andrew D. Dettmer

Faegre Baker Daniels LLP

Indianapolis, Indiana

Thomas Q. Swanson

Daniel L. Chen

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

San Francisco, California

A T T O R N E Y F O R A M I C U S C U R I A E F O U N D A T I O N F O R M O R A L L A W

Richard A. Greenwalt

Greenfield, Indiana

A T T O R N E Y F O R A M I C I C U R I A E S T A T E S O F U T A H , A R K A N S A S , 

H A W A I I , L O U I S I A N A , O K L A H O M A , A N D T E X A S

Kevin S. Smith

Special Assistant Utah Attorney General

Fishers, Indiana
Slaughter, J., dissenting.

I respectfully dissent from the the Court’s thoughtful, scholarly opinion

for two reasons.

First, the Court’s announced rule subjects the excessive-fines inquiry to 

a highly fact-specific, multifactor balancing test that turns on the totality 

of the circumstances. The problem with such tests—unlike bright-line 

rules—is that they leave litigants and lower courts uncertain about how a 

particular case with its particular facts will be decided. Such an approach

creates the impression, because it reflects the reality, of an “eye-of-thebeholder” jurisprudence—that law is not a fixed set of rules to be applied 

neutrally, but a hodgepodge of factors that yields varied, unpredictable 

outcomes from case to case. Such variable results are not the fault of the 

judges applying the factors but the inevitable—and regrettable—

byproduct of the multifaceted inquiries we impose on them. To be sure, 

some legal questions may defy ready application of bright-line rules. But 

our goal should be to embrace such rules when possible. We should turn 

to contextual, totality-of-the-circumstances inquiries only as a last resort, 

not as a first option. If the test the Court announces today is going to be 

the prevailing legal standard, it should be the Supreme Court of the 

United States that says so authoritatively.

In lieu of our Court’s test, I would embrace the State’s proposed rule, 

which asks whether the forfeited asset was the instrumentality of a crime. 

In my view, that is where the excessiveness inquiry under the Eighth 

Amendment begins and ends—at least until the Supreme Court tells us 

otherwise. This approach is easy to apply, is consistent with the Supreme 

Court’s historical practice of approving in rem forfeitures that were the 

instrumentality of a crime—regardless of their disproportionality—and 

has never been squarely rejected by the Supreme Court’s recent excessivefines case law. In Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602 (1993), the Supreme 

Court held that the Excessive Fines Clause applies to in rem forfeitures. 

See id. at 618-22. But the Court did not announce the standard for 

evaluating excessiveness. Instead, it remanded the case so lower courts 

could fashion an appropriate standard. Id. at 622, 623 n.15. Five years later, 

in United States v. Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321 (1998), which addressed the 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 2 of 3

excessiveness of an in personam forfeiture, the Court rejected the 

government’s attempt to import an instrumentality inquiry for in rem

forfeitures onto its excessiveness test for in personam forfeitures. Id. at 333-

34 & n.8.

Today, our Court invokes Bajakajian to reject the State’s argument for an 

instrumentality test. But Bajakajian’s discussion of proportionality for 

measuring the excessiveness of in personam forfeitures does not mean that 

proportionality also is appropriate for measuring the excessiveness of in 

rem forfeitures. The fact is, the Supreme Court still has not decided this 

precise question, despite the lapse of twenty-six years since Austin. Until 

that Court pronounces a different rule, I would not engraft its 

proportionality inquiry for in personam forfeitures onto the historical 

instrumentality test in this in rem case. We should not try to divine where 

the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence is headed, extrapolating to what may 

seem a likely outcome based on few available data points.

Second, I also respectfully dissent because of our disposition today. We 

do neither the parties nor the lower courts any favors by remanding so the 

trial court can apply our Court’s newly announced test. In doing so, we 

needlessly prolong resolution of this case. The Court says that further 

development of the factual record is necessary to apply its new test, 

without specifying what additional facts to adduce or how, precisely, to 

apply the test to any newly found facts. The Court also says a remand is 

warranted because the trial court did not have the “benefit” of our 

“analytical framework” the first time it heard the case. With today’s 

opinion, the trial court now knows our “framework” but still lacks the 

“benefit” of our guidance for applying it. I do not envy the trial court’s 

task. Personally, I have no idea what today’s test means for Timbs’s 

excessiveness claim. Instead of remanding for further proceedings, we 

should apply our test and declare a winner.

Here, as the Court observes, Timbs used the Land Rover both to obtain 

drugs and to transport himself and the drugs to their place of sale. Thus, 

his vehicle was the instrumentality of a crime—“the actual means by 

which an offense was committed.” Bajakajian, 524 U.S. at 333 n.8. Applying 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 27S04-1702-MI-70 | October 28, 2019 Page 3 of 3

this analysis, I would hold that the State’s forfeiture was not excessive

under the Eighth Amendment.