Court Opinion

ID: 9772726
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:27:44.631448+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:43:44.736911
License: Public Domain

DORSEY, Justice,
dissenting.
I disagree with Judge Onion’s analysis and result for several reasons, the most basic of which is that we are reversing on grounds not presented to either the trial court or this court, thus breaching the most fundamental principle of appellate procedure. The appellant has never raised any objection, either here or below, that Lara’s challenge to prosecution was not in the proper form, nor has it here challenged the sufficiency of the evidence. I would reach the merits and hold that the trial court did not err in ruling that the prior forfeiture barred the criminal prosecution. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
I.
The State brings this appeal. It has only one point of error:
The trial court erred in granting appellee’s motion to dismiss on double jeopardy grounds because the civil forfeiture of ap-pellee’s property does not constitute punishment for purposes of double jeopardy.
*204The State’s argument under this point of error discusses that precise question and analyzes the trilogy of applicable cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, Halper, Austin, and Kurth Ranch,1 as well as the eases from the various courts of appeals of Texas. The issue addressed in all is whether the forfeiture of a criminal defendant’s property for the commission of a crime is “punishment” to bar subsequent prosecution of that crime under the double jeopardy provision of the Federal Constitution.
The State does not question the method by which Lara brought his claim to the attention of the trial court. Although the trial court may very well have been in error in addressing the issue because it was not properly presented, that question is not before us. We are prohibited from addressing such unassigned, unpreserved error, except in the narrowest of circumstances, such as jurisdictional defects. Construing the State’s point of error and argument liberally, there is no hint that the State questions the method in which the issue was raised at the trial court. Because appellant does not seek a reversal of the trial court’s judgment on procedural grounds, we should not address that question.
II.
Similarly, appellant does not raise an issue of insufficient evidence to sustain the trial court’s ruling that the forfeitures arose from the same offenses for which Lara was being prosecuted. However, there is evidence that the forfeitures were grounded in the fact that the money and the van forfeited were contraband. The State as plaintiff alleged that “the money seized herein were proceeds from the sale of narcotics and the vehicle seized herein was used in the delivery of approximately eighteen pounds of marihuana.”
If we were to review the evidence, we would do so with deference to the implied findings of the trial judge consistent with the judgment. That is, we would construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the factual findings of the court. That being so, we would have to conclude there was some evidence from which the fact finder could have concluded the forfeitures were for the same offenses that were being prosecuted in the present case.
III.
The United States Supreme Court has determined that forfeitures such as these are punishment as a matter of law. Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602, 621-23, 113 S.Ct. 2801, 2812, 125 L.Ed.2d 488 (1993). In Austin, a defendant pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Id. at 604-06, 113 S.Ct. at 2803. The Government then sought forfeiture2 of the defendant’s business and mobile home, locations where he had sold and stored the cocaine. Id. The defendant argued that the forfeiture of his home and business violated the Eighth Amendment Excessive Fines Clause. Id.
The Supreme Court began its examination of this argument by holding that the characterization of a forfeiture as “civil” or “criminal” was not determinative of whether the Eighth Amendment was implicated. Id. at 610-11, 113 S.Ct. at 2806. Rather, the important question was whether or not the forfeiture amounted to punishment. Id. The Court, noting its statement in the earlier case of United States v. Halper that “a civil sanction that cannot fairly be said solely to serve a remedial purpose, but rather can only be explained as also serving either retributive or deterrent purposes, is punishment, as we have come to understand the term,” therefore set out to determine whether the federal forfeiture statute served, at least in part, to punish the wrongdoer. See id. (quoting United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 448, 109 S.Ct. 1892, 1902, 104 L.Ed.2d 487 (1989)).
*205The Court examined the history of forfeitures in English and American common law, and determined that forfeiture has long been, and still is, considered a form of punishment. Austin, 509 U.S. at 618-19, 113 S.Ct. at 2810. As the Court stated, “[t]he First Congress passed laws subjecting ships and cargos involved in customs offenses to forfeiture.... [Examination of those laws suggests that the First Congress viewed forfeiture as punishment.” Id. at 613, 113 S.Ct. at 2807. The Court noted that it “consistently has recognized that forfeiture serves, at least in part, to punish the owner.” Id. at 618, 113 S.Ct. at 2810.
The Court then went on to examine the federal forfeiture provisions of 21 U.S.C. § 881. The Court noted that the statute expressly provides an “innocent owner” defense, which focuses the provisions on the culpability of the owner. Id. The Court further noted that the provisions at issue tied forfeiture directly to the commission of drug offenses, which further reveals the penal nature of the federal statute. Id. at 620, 113 S.Ct. at 2811.
The Court rejected the Government’s argument in Austin that the forfeiture statutes were remedial in nature because they removed the instruments of the drug trade from the community, thereby protecting it from the threat of continued drug dealing. Id. In rejecting this argument, the Court noted that while the forfeiture of contraband itself may be characterized as remedial, the forfeiture of other property not inherently illegal to own is not remedial. Id. (citing One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania, 380 U.S. 693, 699, 85 S.Ct. 1246, 1250, 14 L.Ed.2d 170 (1965) (rejecting the Government’s attempt to extend the remedial nature of the forfeiture of illegal liquor to conveyances used to transport that liquor, and noting that “[t]here is nothing even remotely criminal in possessing an automobile.”)). The Court stated that “the Government’s attempt to characterize [Austin’s forfeited] properties as ‘instruments’ of the drug trade must meet the same fate as Pennsylvania’s effort to characterize the 1958 Plymouth Sedan as ‘contraband.’ ” Austin, 509 U.S. at 621, 113 S.Ct. at 2811.
The Government also argued in Austin that, because forfeited assets serve to compensate the Government for the expense of law enforcement activity and for its expenditures on societal problems such as urban blight, drug addiction, and other health concerns resulting from the drug trade, the forfeiture of Austin’s assets was remedial rather than punitive. Id. The Court rejected this argument also, stating that
the dramatic variations in the value of conveyances and real property forfeitable under [the federal forfeiture statutes] undercut any similar argument with respect to those provisions. The Court made this very point in Ward: the “forfeiture of property ... [is] a penalty that ha[s] absolutely no correlation to any damages sustained by society or to the cost of enforcing the law.”
Id. at 621, 113 S.Ct. at 2812 (quoting United States v. Ward, 448 U.S. 242, 254, 100 S.Ct. 2636, 2644, 65 L.Ed.2d 742 (1980)). The Court held that, since the federal forfeiture statutes were not solely remedial in nature, Austin’s forfeiture of his property was punishment, and was therefore subject to an Eighth Amendment Excessive Fines Clause analysis. Id.
Two Texas Courts of Appeals have held that a forfeiture bars a subsequent prosecution under Austin. Fant v. State, 881 S.W.2d 830 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1994, pet. granted); Ex parte Ariza, 913 S.W.2d 215 (Tex.App.—Austin 1995, orig. proceeding). The issue is presently before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. I would disavow our earlier opinion of Ex parte Camara, 893 S.W.2d 553 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1994, orig. proceeding), because I believe it to be wrongly analyzed and decided. Camara distinguished the Austin case because Austin involved the excessive fines clause of the Eighth Amendment rather than the Fifth Amendment’s double jeopardy provision. I do not believe that this is appropriate, and agree with the Ariza court that this is “a distinction without a difference.” Ariza, 913 S.W.2d at 222 n. 4.3
*206I would affirm the judgment below and hold that the prior forfeiture of assets constituted punishment and barred Lara’s subsequent prosecution.
I respectfully dissent.
YÁÑEZ and CHAVEZ, JJ., join in the dissent.

. United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 109 S.Ct. 1892, 104 L.Ed.2d 487 (1989); Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602, 113 S.Ct. 2801, 125 L.Ed.2d 488 (1993); Montana Dept. of Revenue v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U.S. 767, 114 S.Ct. 1937, 128 L.Ed.2d 767 (1994).

. Pursuant to the federal forfeiture statute, 21 U.S.C. § 881.

. Several federal circuit courts have also rejected this distinction in the time since this Court decid*206ed Camara. United States v. 9844 S. Titan Ct., 75 F.3d 1470 (10th Cir.1996); United States v. Perez, 70 F.3d 345, 348-49 (5th Cir.1995); United States v. Baird, 63 F.3d 1213, 1216 (3rd Cir. 1995); United States v. Ursery, 59 F.3d 568, 572-73 (6th Cir.1995); United States v. $405,089.23, 56 F.3d 41, 42 (9th Cir.1995) (modification of opinion on denial of motion for rehearing).