Opinion ID: 508542
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Motion for Return

Text: 17 Pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 41(e), Charles Wood filed a pretrial motion seeking the return of his car which had been seized following his arrest. The car was subject to forfeiture under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 881(a)(4) which provides for forfeiture of vehicles which are used, or are intended for use, to transport, or in any manner to facilitate the transportation, sale, receipt, possession, or concealment of a controlled substance. After a thorough survey of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 881(c)-(d), 19 U.S.C. Secs. 1607-18 and 28 C.F.R. Secs. 9.1-.7 and 1316, the magistrate, in his Report and Recommendation, properly concluded that when property is seized pursuant to 21 U.S.C. Secs. 881(a)-(d) and 19 U.S.C. Secs. 1607-18, as Wood's car was, the owner has two avenues through which to seek return of the property. The first is to file a claim and post a ten percent bond within 20 days after the date of the first publication of notice of seizure. At that point, administrative forfeiture proceedings cease and the United States Attorney must begin condemnation proceedings. 19 U.S.C. Secs. 1607-08; 21 C.F.R. Secs. 1316.75-.78. The second alternative the owner can pursue is to file a petition for remission or mitigation, whereupon the Attorney General shall make an allowance or denial of the petition. 19 U.S.C. Sec. 1618; 21 C.F.R. Secs. 1316.79-.80; 28 C.F.R. Secs. 9.3 and 9.4(f). 18 Wood was advised of both of these options in the December 4, 1985 notification of seizure. By virtue of his failure to file a claim and post a bond, and his filing of a petition for remission, it is apparent that he elected to pursue the latter of the two options. A declaration of forfeiture was issued on January 2, 1986, which acknowledged receipt of the petition for remission. We infer from the issuance of the declaration, as did the magistrate, that the petition for remission was denied. 19 A denial of a petition for remission is not subject to judicial review. See United States v. One 1973 Buick Riviera Automobile, 560 F.2d 897 (8th Cir.1977). Therefore, this court does not have jurisdiction to review the refusal to grant the request. This is not to say that Wood does not have any forum in which he can bring his claim to regain possession of the car. He can bring a civil proceeding in rem to challenge the forfeiture. 20 Fed.R.Crim.P. 41(e) requires the trial court to consider the motion for return also as a motion to suppress evidence under Rule 12 and, although unclear from statements made by counsel at oral argument, it appears that the motion for return was intended, in part, as a motion to suppress. In his motion for return, however, Wood failed to assert grounds upon which a motion to suppress could have been granted. Wood stated only that the seizure of the vehicle caused him irreparable harm and emotional and financial drain. Therefore, we have no basis upon which to review denial of the motion, although we could have considered the matter had a constitutional claim been properly asserted before the trial court. However, even if considered on its merits as a constitutional attack upon the use of evidence, the request had absolutely no legal validity since the government did not seek to offer the automobile as evidence at the trial.