Opinion ID: 197435
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: principles affecting criminal forfeiture

Text: 7 The applicable statute, which permits the government to seize drug-related property, provides in pertinent part that any person who is convicted of a federal felony drug violation 8 shall forfeit to the United States, irrespective of any provision of State law-- 9 (1) any property constituting, or derived from, any proceeds the person obtained, directly or indirectly, as the result of such violation; 10 (2) any of the person's property used, or intended to be used, in any manner or part, to commit, or to facilitate the commission of, such violation.... 11 21 U.S.C. § 853(a) (1994). This statute contemplates both property obtained and property used forfeitures; that is, it allows the government to confiscate a criminal defendant's property where the property either is the fruit of drug-related criminal activity or has been used to further drug-related criminal activity. 12 The legislative history of section 853 is significant. Congress enacted the statute as part of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. See Act of Oct. 12, 1984, Pub.L. No. 98-473, 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. (98 Stat. 1837). Congress expressed high hopes for this legislation, intending it as a vehicle to make major comprehensive improvements to the Federal criminal laws. S.Rep. No. 98-225, at 1 (1984), reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3182, 3184. To bolster federal crime prevention efforts, Congress enhance[d] the use of forfeiture, and, in particular, the sanction of criminal forfeiture, as a law enforcement tool in combating two of the most serious crime problems facing the country: racketeering and drug trafficking. Id. at 3374. 13 To implement these sentiments, Congress expanded the preexisting Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) forfeiture provision, embodied in 18 U.S.C. § 1963, and simultaneously created the drug-related forfeiture provision now codified in section 853. Congress took pains to note that [t]he provisions of this new criminal forfeiture statute for major drug offenses closely parallel those of the [amended] RICO forfeiture provisions.... Id. at 3381. Since then, courts consistently have construed the RICO forfeiture statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1963, and the statute governing drug-related forfeitures, 21 U.S.C. § 853, in pari passu. See United States v. McHan, 101 F.3d 1027, 1042 (4th Cir.1996), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 2468, 138 L.Ed.2d 223 (1997); United States v. Libretti, 38 F.3d 523, 528, n. 6 (10th Cir.1994), aff'd, 516 U.S. 29, 116 S.Ct. 356, 133 L.Ed.2d 271 (1995); United States v. Bissell, 866 F.2d 1343, 1348 n. 3 (11th Cir.1989); United States v. Benevento, 663 F.Supp. 1115, 1118 n. 2 (S.D.N.Y.1987), aff'd per curiam, 836 F.2d 129 (2d Cir.1988). We join these courts in holding that case law under 18 U.S.C. § 1963 is persuasive in construing 21 U.S.C. § 853, and vice versa. 14 The Supreme Court has held that criminal forfeiture is less a substantive offense and more an element of the offender's sentence. See Libretti, 516 U.S. at ----, 116 S.Ct. at 363. For this reason, criminal forfeitures do not engender the same procedural protections as do felony charges simpliciter. See id. at ----, ----, 116 S.Ct. at 364, 367. This does not mean, however, that the government can forfeit assets for the asking. One restriction is that  § 853 limits forfeiture by establishing a factual nexus requirement: Only drug-tainted assets may be forfeited. Id. at ----, 116 S.Ct. at 364. Put more precisely, criminal forfeiture is not permissible under section 853 unless the government establishes a connection between the forfeited property and the defendant's criminal conduct. 15 The exact dimensions of this nexus requirement are largely uncharted. In United States v. Desmarais, 938 F.2d 347 (1st Cir.1991), government officials effected a property used forfeiture and seized the defendant's house pursuant to section 853(a)(2). On appeal, the defendant claimed that the district court had erred in instructing the jurors anent the connection between the seized property and the defendant's criminal conduct. Without venturing to delineate the contours of the necessary connection, we held that the jury instructions were adequate and that the facts sufficiently established the requisite nexus between the defendant's (forfeited) dwelling and his criminal misconduct. Id. at 353 (mentioning that narcotics had been mailed to the house and that officers had discovered drug paraphernalia therein). We acknowledged, however, that [w]e have yet to define the degree of interrelatedness required to support a criminal forfeiture under 21 U.S.C. § 853(a)(2), nor has any other court done so to our knowledge. Id.