Court Opinion

ID: 9466913
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:32:22.250468+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:02.418285
License: Public Domain

MERRITT, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
The fundamental problem with the Court’s opinion is that it does not address the question of whether a forfeiture proceeding is a criminal proceeding in which the defendant is entitled to the normal constitutional protections applied in criminal cases. Without addressing the issue, the Court treats the proceeding as a kind of hybrid which is neither fish nor fowl.
I agree that United States v. U. S. Coin & Currency, 401 U.S. 715, 91 S.Ct. 1041, 28 L.Ed.2d 434 (1971), does not require dismissal of the forfeiture proceedings. I believe, however, that procedures in addition to those the Court has suggested are necessary to protect Fifth Amendment and other rights.
The burden must be placed on the Government to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt as in any other criminal case. A gambling forfeiture action is a criminal proceeding governed by constitutional protections applicable in other criminal cases. Justice Harlan wrote for the majority in U.S. Coin & Currency that gambling forfeiture proceedings are criminal in nature:
. . . [A]s Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 634, 6 S.Ct., 524, 534, 29 L.Ed. 746 (1886), makes clear, “proceedings instituted for the purpose of declaring the forfeiture of a man’s property by reason of offences committed by him, though they may be civil in form, are in their nature criminal” for Fifth Amendment purposes. (Emphasis supplied.) From the relevant constitutional standpoint there is no difference between a man who “forfeits” $8,674 because he has used the money in illegal gambling activities and a man who pays a “criminal fine” of $8,674 as a result of the same course of conduct. In both instances, money liability is predicated upon a finding of the owner’s wrongful conduct; in both cases, the Fifth Amendment applies with equal force. See also One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania, 380 U.S. 693, 700, 85 S.Ct. 1246, 1250, 14 L.Ed.2d 170 (1965). When the forfeiture statutes are viewed in their entirety, it is manifest that they are intended to impose a penalty only upon those who are significantly involved in a criminal enterprise. 401 U.S. at 718, 721-22, 91 S.Ct. at 1043, 1045 (footnote omitted).
Just as in the case quoted above, the forfeiture of cash here is a penalty predicated upon a finding of the owner’s wrongful conduct. The statutory authority for forfeiture proceedings, 18 U.S.C. § 1955(d), appears within the criminal code. We must therefore instruct the District Court that it must afford claimant the same safeguards he would be afforded in any other criminal trial. This includes the presumption of innocence, proof beyond a reasonable doubt, *19and the nght to remain silent without automatically suffering forfeiture.
The Court suggests that self-incrimination problems may be avoided if the claimant can produce other witnesses or evidence that would carry the burden without his personal testimony. I do not think that solution will work. If the government is not required to prove its case as in any other criminal case, the fact-finder will still be able to draw adverse inferences from a claimant’s failure to testify. This violates both the privilege against self-incrimination and the presumption of innocence.