Wyoming Supreme Court won't hear appeal of $470K seizure

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Wyoming Supreme Court won't hear appeal of $470K seizure

BEN NEARY Associated Press
Updated 14 hrs ago

CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal from a man who contends it was unconstitutional for the state to seize $470,000 in cash from him and then seek to forfeit it on the grounds that it was drug money, all without charging him with a crime. ... Chief Justice E. James Burke on Tuesday dismissed an appeal from Robert Miller, of Des Plaines, Illinois.

Authorities say a state trooper seized the cash after pulling Miller over in 2013 for speeding on Interstate 80 in far western Wyoming. ... The state never charged Miller with a crime and waited about a year to bring a civil court action to forfeit the money under the state’s Controlled Substances Act, asserting that the cash was related to the illegal drug trade.

State District Judge Joseph B. Bluemel early this year denied a request from Miller to dismiss the forfeiture case on the grounds that the state was violating his constitutional rights. Miller appealed that decision to the Wyoming Supreme Court, but Burke ruled this week that the appeal was improper because the entire forfeiture case hasn’t wrapped up yet in Bluemel’s court.
....

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead in 2015 vetoed a bill passed by the state Legislature that would have required the state to secure a criminal conviction first before seeking to forfeit cash and other property it believes may have been involved in illegal activity. Mead, a former state and federal prosecutor, said in his veto message that he was satisfied the forfeiture process was working well in the state.