Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 14, 1993 TAG: 9312140176
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The 5-4 ruling in a case from Hawaii was the second time this year the high court has limited the government's authority to take over property it contends was used in committing a drug crime.
"At stake in this and many other forfeiture cases are the security and privacy of the home and those who take shelter within it," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court.
"Unless exigent circumstances are present, the [Constitution] requires the government to afford notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard before seizing real property subject to civil forfeiture," Kennedy said.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist dissented, calling the decision "ill-considered and disruptive." The property seizure in the Hawaii case "serves important governmental purposes in combatting illegal drugs," he wrote.
But Attorney General Janet Reno said the ruling would not hobble the Justice Department's asset-forfeiture program.
The court said James Daniel Good was entitled to be notified and given a hearing before his Hawaii home was seized.
Good was arrested in 1985 after police found 89 pounds of marijuana and vials of hashish at his house in Keaau on the island of Hawaii. He pleaded guilty to promoting a harmful drug and served a year in prison.
In 1989, federal agents seized the house and four-acre property where the drugs had been found. Good was living in Nicaragua at the time and had rented the home to tenants.
He challenged the seizure, contending he was entitled to be notified before it took place and should have been given a chance to oppose it.
The Supreme Court agreed. "The right to prior notice and a hearing is central to the Constitution's command of due process," Kennedy said.
The court also:
Ruled 6-3 that a federal pension-protection law, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, can be used to keep a closer watch on how insurance companies manage hundreds of billions of dollars in workers' pensions.
Backed out of using a Tennessee death penalty case to decide whether states can make it easier for prosecutors to obtain death sentences for people who kill someone during another crime, such as robbery.
Left intact a ruling that requires Florida to provide Medicaid coverage for a 19-month-old boy who doctors say won't survive without a liver-bowel transplant.
by CNB