Opinion ID: 2633086
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: excessive fines clause

Text: ¶ 19 The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. The Excessive Fine Clause of this provision limits the government's power to extract payments, whether in case or in kind, `as punishment for some offense.' Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602, 609-610, 113 S.Ct. 2801, 125 L.Ed.2d 488 (1993) (quoting Browning-Ferris Industries of Vermont, Inc. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc., 492 U.S. 257, 265, 109 S.Ct. 2909). We need not detail the history of forfeiture here because it is presented by Justice O'Connor in her separate writing, concurring in part and dissenting in part, in Browning-Ferris, 492 U.S. at 282-301, 109 S.Ct. 2909 as well as by the Court in Austin, 509 U.S. at 611-619, 113 S.Ct. 2801 and in United States v. Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321, 331, 118 S.Ct. 2028, 141 L.Ed.2d 314 (1998). ¶ 20 The United States Supreme Court has addressed forfeiture under the Eight Amendment in two fairly recent cases. Austin, 509 U.S. 602, 113 S.Ct. 2801, 125 L.Ed.2d 488; Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321, 118 S.Ct. 2028, 141 L.Ed.2d 314. In Austin, a unanimous decision, the claimant had pled guilty in criminal proceedings to possession with intent to distribute cocaine. 509 U.S. at 604, 113 S.Ct. 2801. The government then filed an in rem civil action seeking forfeiture of his mobile home and his body shop, the places he used for storing and selling the cocaine. Id. at 604-605, 113 S.Ct. 2801. The claimant argued that the forfeitures violated the Excessive Fines Clause. Id. at 605, 113 S.Ct. 2801. ¶ 21 The Austin Court noted that civil forfeitures advanced both punitive as well as remedial goals. Id. at 610, 113 S.Ct. 2801. The Court found it unnecessary to exclude the possibility that a forfeiture serves remedial purposes to conclude that it is subject to the limitations of the Excessive Fines Clause. Id. at 611, 113 S.Ct. 2801. Under Austin, a forfeiture which is not purely remedial, but which serves in part as punishment, is subject to the limitations of the Excessive Fines Clause. Id. at 610, 622 n. 14, 113 S.Ct. 2801. The Austin Court concluded that forfeiture generally and statutory in rem forfeiture in particular historically have been understood, at least in part, as punishment. Id. at 618, 113 S.Ct. 2801. The relevant question under Austin, is not . . . whether forfeiture . . . is civil or criminal, but rather whether it is punishment. Id. at 610, 113 S.Ct. 2801. ¶ 22 The Court considered the following factors in concluding that subsections 881(a)(4) and (a)(7) of title 21 of the United States Code were punitive and, thus, limited by the Excessive Fines Clause: (1) nothing in the subsections or their legislative history contradicts the historical understanding of forfeiture as punishment, id. at 619, 113 S.Ct. 2801 (2) forfeiture under these subsections is subject to an innocent owner defense, making them look like punishment, id., (3) forfeiture under these subsections is tied directly to the commission of a drug offense, id. at 620, 113 S.Ct. 2801 (4) section 881's legislative history supports a legislative intent that section 881 forfeitures would act as a deterrent, id., and (5) there are dramatic variations in the value of forfeitures under the two subsections which have no `correlation to any damages sustained by society or to the cost of enforcing the law.' Id. at 621, 113 S.Ct. 2801 (quoting United States v. Ward, 448 U.S. 242, 254, 100 S.Ct. 2636, 65 L.Ed.2d 742 (1980)). ¶ 23 The Court rejected the government's argument that subsections 881(a)(4) and (a)(7) were remedial. Id. at 621, 113 S.Ct. 2801. The government based its argument on two reasons. The first was that the forfeitures protected the community by removing instruments of drug trafficking from society. Id. at 620, 113 S.Ct. 2801. The second was that they served to compensate the Government for the expense of law enforcement activity and for its expenditure on societal problems such as urban blight, drug addiction, and other health concerns resulting from the drug trade. Id. In rejecting the government's argument, the Court noted that the reasons for forfeiture of contraband, removing dangerous or illegal items from society, did not apply to conveyances because there was nothing criminal in possessing an automobile. Id. at 621, 113 S.Ct. 2801. The Court refused to articulate a test for determining whether a forfeiture exceeded the Excessive Fines Clause's limitations. Id. at 622, 113 S.Ct. 2801. ¶ 24 Austin is distinguishable in that there was no evidence that the mobile home and the business were directly related to the offense of possession with the intent to distribute or were purchased with the proceeds from a drug sale. Here, the allegations are that the $18,235.00 was found in close proximity to marihuana in violation of the Act which would, if proven, raise a presumption that the money is or has been used in a drug transaction. Unlike in Austin, the forfeiture of the $18,235.00 here, if supported by the evidence, disgorges the claimants of proceeds received in violation of the Act. The forfeiture here does not squarely fall under Austin's teachings. ¶ 25 Five years after the Austin decision, the Supreme Court decided Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321, 118 S.Ct. 2028, 141 L.Ed.2d 314, in a five to four decision. Bajakajian failed to report to customs officials that he possessed in excess of $10,000.00 when boarding a flight to Italy in violation of title 31, sections 5316(a)(1)(A) and 5322(a) of the United States Code. Id. at 324-325, 118 S.Ct. 2028. In fact, inspectors found Bajakajian was transporting $357,144.00. Id. at 325, 118 S.Ct. 2028. As part of the criminal proceeding, the government sought forfeiture of the $357,144.00 pursuant to title 18, section 982(a)(1) of the United States Code. Id. at 325, 118 S.Ct. 2028. Bajakajian challenged the forfeiture as violating the Excessive Fines Clause. Id. at 324, 118 S.Ct. 2028. ¶ 26 The Bajakajian Court had no problem in finding the forfeiture of the $357,144.00 to be punitive. Id. at 328, 118 S.Ct. 2028. In determining that the forfeiture constituted punishment, the Bajakajian Court considered that the forfeiture was imposed as part of a criminal proceeding, required a felony conviction, and could not be imposed on an innocent owner. Id. at 328, 118 S.Ct. 2028. It noted: Traditional in rem forfeitures were not considered punishment against the individual for an offense, and traditionally were considered to occupy a place outside the domain of the Excessive Fines Clause. 524 U.S. at 330-331, 118 S.Ct. 2028. ¶ 27 The Bajakajian Court seems to retreat from Austin's strong language. Where the Austin Court crisply rejected the government's instrumentality argument, the Bajakajian Court, albeit be it in obiter dictum, recognized that [i]nstrumentalities historically have been treated as a form of `guilty property' that can be forfeited in civil in rem proceedings. 524 U.S. at 333, 118 S.Ct. 2028. The Court concluded that because the forfeitures were not sought in in rem civil proceedings but in in personam criminal proceedings, the question of whether the currency was an instrumentality was irrelevant. Id. at 333-334, 118 S.Ct. 2028. But, it reiterated: `Instrumentality' forfeitures have historically been limited to the property actually used to commit an offense and no more. Id. at 333 n. 8, 118 S.Ct. 2028 (quoting Austin 509 U.S. at 627-628, 113 S.Ct. 2801 (Scalia, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment)). The Court continued that a forfeiture which exceeded this limited definition of instrumentality is ipso facto subject to the Excessive Fines Clause's limitations. Id. Under Bajakajian's language, it would appear that forfeiture of the $18,235.00 here would be purely remedial and not subject to the Excessive Fines Clause. [3] ¶ 28 In the time between the decisions in Austin and Bajakajian, the United States Supreme Court decided United States v. Ursery, 518 U.S. 267, 116 S.Ct. 2135, 135 L.Ed.2d 549 (1996) (consolidated with United States v. $405,089.23 in United States Currency, case no. 95-346). In case number 95-346, the defendants were convicted of conspiracy to aid and abet the manufacture of methamphetamine [and] conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, [along with actual] money laundering. Id. at 271, 116 S.Ct. 2135. The United States sought forfeiture in an in rem civil proceeding under the money laundering forfeiture statutes and under title 21, subsection 881(a)(6) of the United States Code. Subsection 881(a)(6) provided for the forfeiture of (i) `[a]ll . . . things of value furnished or intended to be furnished by any person in exchange for' illegal drugs, (ii) `all proceeds traceable to such an exchange,' and (iii) `all moneys, negotiable instruments, and securities used or intended to be used to facilitate' a federal drug felony. Id. at 272, 116 S.Ct. 2135. The claimants attacked the forfeiture as violating the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. ¶ 29 In Ursery, the Court acknowledged that [t]o the extent that § 881(a)(6) applies to `proceeds' of illegal drug activity, it serves the additional nonpunitive goal of ensuring that persons do not profit from their illegal acts. Id. at 291, 116 S.Ct. 2135. Even though Ursery is an attack on forfeiture under the Double Jeopardy Clause, we believe that this statement would be equally applicable to attacks under the Excessive Fines Clause. As Justice Kennedy noted in his concurring opinion in Ursery, the proceeds of illegal drug activity are the proceeds of unlawful activity. They are not property that respondents have any right to retain. The forfeiture of such proceeds, like the confiscation of money stolen from a bank, does not punish respondents because it exacts no price in liberty or lawfully derived property from them. Id. at 298, 116 S.Ct. 2135. ¶ 30 Under Ursery, because title 63, subsection 2-503(A)(7) disgorges illegally obtained monies from drug distribution, forfeitures under it are purely remedial and not subject to the Excessive Fines Clause under the United States Supreme Court's jurisprudence. [4] Thus, we find that forfeiture under title 63, subsection 2-503(A)(7) is not limited by the Excessive Fines Clause.