Court Opinion

ID: 9483051
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:08:58.382166+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:22.937189
License: Public Domain

RALPH B. GUY, Jr., Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in all of Judge Reavley’s well-reasoned opinion, except that portion dealing with the forfeiture of the farmhouse. Forfeiture is intended to be a harsh sanction. It is intended not only to take the profit out of drug dealing but also to make persons give serious consideration prospectively as to whether the potential gain is worth the downside risk. I would not try to formulate any type of per se rule relative to forfeitures, but simply analyze each situation on a case-by-case basis. Here, the defendant had a relatively small farm, with a farmhouse located on the property. I would treat the property as one entity, notwithstanding how it was acquired historically, and declare it all forfeitable. For all practical purposes, the property was treated as a unit, and the house certainly was the “command post” for whatever was occurring on the property, be it growing marijuana or legitimate activities. There well may be a point at which a defendant’s constitutional rights will mandate that the proportionality of the forfeiture to the offense be considered. This case is far short of such a point, however.