Opinion ID: 2575863
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Claimant's Counter-Motion For Summary Relief

Text: ¶ 7 Mitchell's response with counter-motion for summary judgment notes that the State's forfeiture claim rests on three grounds. [10] He argues due process dictates that a claimant should not have to guess what violation of the Act the State relies on to support a statutory forfeiture. Mitchell urges that if the State relies on the first ground, it has the burden to show a nexus between the currency and the Act's violation. According to Mitchell the State has neither pleaded nor proven any violation of the Act to be a source of the money. He urges the trial court to construe the statute in the same manner as was done in State ex rel. Dept. of Public Safety v.1985 GMC Pickup, Serial No. 1GTBS14EOF2525894, OK Tag No. ZPE852. [11] There the court held mere possession of a controlled dangerous substance does not trigger the forfeiture provisions of § 2-503(A)(4). He relies on statements in 1985 GMC Pickup that forfeiture is penal in nature and therefore the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause applies to any forfeiture under statutes similar to that in controversy here. According to Mitchell, the legislature did not intend that close proximity of currency to controlled dangerous substances would alone be a basis for forfeiture. He argues that to be forfeitable under § 2-503(A)(7) [12] the money must be in close proximity to controlled dangerous substances which are possessed in connection with manufacturing, importation or distribution of forfeitable substances. Mitchell further argues that the State's reliance on the arresting officer's affidavit that merely recites the money constituted one of many items located or found during a search following a routine traffic stop is insufficient to support an inference of the money's actual use in violation of the law. ¶ 8 The State responds that Mitchell's argument confuses the two forfeiture cases claimant insists on intermixing. In the first criminal case, he was convicted of simple possession, but in the second case from which this forfeiture arose, he was arrested for trafficking and convicted of possession with intent to distribute. According to the arresting officer's affidavit the plastic bags that Mitchell dropped while being chased by the officer contained more cocaine than was needed to support a charge of trafficking. The State argues that claimant's continued reference to the first arrest and to the ensuing forfeiture of money ($505.00) is irrelevant and beyond the trial court's cognizance in this, the second, forfeiture. ¶ 9 Confining itself to the evidence of the second arrest, the trial court gave summary judgment to the State and overruled Mitchell's quest for like relief. Rejecting Mitchell's efforts at consolidation of both seizures of cash, the trial court ruled the only amount of money at issue before the court is the amount ($1,267.00) seized in the second arrest. Mitchell brought this appeal. The Court of Civil Appeals (COCA) reversed and remanded the cause for further proceedings.