One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania
Yes, that's a REAL Supreme Court case..... decided in 1965. Without boring you with the minutiae too much, the State of PA attempted to seize the car of a man they arrested for smuggling booze in the trunk in addition to charging him with breaking PA liquor law. When it turned out the original search of the car had been conducted without a warrant, the criminal charges were dropped, but, the Commonwealth still demanded he fork over the car, the courts holding that since the forfeiture of the car was a civil, not criminal punishment, the fact that the defendants 4th Amendment rights had been violated was immaterial. The USSC reversed, noting that, if anything, civil fees can run in excess of the maximum CRIMINAL fine for the same behavior, and thus, must meet the same standards (Indeed, in this case, the maximum fine for possession of untaxed booze was, $500, the court noted a Chevrolet Impala would've been worth more.... :P |