2023 District of Columbia Code › Title 5 - Police, Firefighters, Medical Examiner, and Forensic Sciences › Chapter 3A - First Amendment Rights and Police Standards › Subchapter III - Post-and-Forfeit Procedure › § 5–335.01. Enforcement of the post-and-forfeiture procedure

§ 5–335.01. Enforcement of the post-and-forfeiture procedure.
(a) For the purposes of this subchapter, the term:
(1) “MPD” means the Metropolitan Police Department.
(2) “OAG” means the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.
(3) “Post-and-forfeiture procedure” means the mechanism in the criminal justice system in the District of Columbia whereby a person charged with certain misdemeanor crimes may post and simultaneously forfeit an amount of money and thereby obtain a full and final resolution of the criminal charge.
(4) “Releasing official” shall have the same meaning as provided in § 23-1110(a)(1).
(5) “Superior Court” means the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
(b) The resolution of a criminal charge using the post-and-forfeit procedure is not a conviction of a crime and shall not be equated to a criminal conviction. The fact that a person resolved a charge using the post-and-forfeit procedure may not be relied upon by any District of Columbia court or agency in a subsequent criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding or administrative action to impose any sanction, penalty, enhanced sentence, or civil disability.
(c) The post-and-forfeit procedure may be offered by a releasing official to arrestees who:
(1) Meet the eligibility criteria established by the OAG; and
(2) Are charged with a misdemeanor that the OAG, in consultation with the MPD, has determined is eligible to be resolved by the post-and-forfeit procedure.
(d) Whenever a releasing official tenders an offer to an arrestee to resolve a criminal charge using the post-and-forfeit procedure, the offer shall be accompanied by a written notice provided to the arrestee describing the post-and-forfeit procedure and the consequences of resolving the criminal charge using this procedure.
(e) The written notice required by subsection (d) of this section shall include, at a minimum, the following information:
(1) The amount of money that the arrestee must post-and-forfeit in order to terminate the criminal case;
(2) That the arrestee has the right to choose whether to:
(A) Accept the post-and-forfeit offer and terminate the criminal case; or
(B) Proceed with the criminal case and a potential adjudication on the merits of the criminal charge;
(3) That, if the arrestee elects to proceed with the criminal case, he or she will be eligible for a release on citation pursuant to § 23-584;
(4) That the agreement to resolve the criminal charge using the post-and-forfeit procedure will be final 90 days after the date the written notice is signed unless, within the 90-day period, the arrestee or the OAG files a motion with the Superior Court to set aside the forfeiture and proceed with the criminal case;
(5) That, if the arrestee or the OAG does not file a motion to set aside the forfeiture, the resolution of the criminal charge using the post-and-forfeit will preclude the arrestee from obtaining an adjudication on the merits of the criminal charge;
(6) That the resolution of the criminal charge using the post-and-forfeit procedure is not a conviction of a crime and may not be equated to a criminal conviction, and may not result in the imposition of a sanction, penalty, enhanced sentence, or civil disability by any District of Columbia court or agency in a subsequent criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding or administrative action; and
(7) That, following the resolution of the charge using the post-and-forfeit procedure, the arrestee will continue to have an arrest record for the charge at issue, unless the arrestee successfully moves in the Superior Court to seal his or her arrest record.
(f) The written notice required by subsection (d) of this section shall comply with § 2-1933.
(g) An arrestee who is provided the written notice required by subsection (d) of this section and who wishes to resolve the criminal charge using the post-and-forfeit procedure shall, after reading the notice, sign the bottom of the notice, thereby acknowledging receiving the information provided in the notice and agreeing to accept the offer to resolve the charge using the post-and-forfeit procedure. After the arrestee signs the notice, the arrestee shall be provided with a copy of the signed notice.
(Apr. 13, 2005, D.C. Law 15-352, § 302, 52 DCR 2296; Apr. 24, 2015, D.C. Law 20-243, § 3(a), 61 DCR 8320.)
Effect of Amendments
The 2015 amendment by D.C. Law 20-243 rewrote the section.