Читать книгу THE LIFEBOAT STRATEGY - Mark Nestmann - Страница 9

Mara Lynn Williams is a widow and cancer survivor. She lost her husband, Royce, in 2009. Then the government tried to seize her hardscrabble 40-acre farm in Chilton County, Alabama.

You see, Royce smoked marijuana. Not because he was trying to get high, but because it was the only substance that relieved his chronic pain after multiple surgeries.

However, in the government’s War on (Some) Drugs, persons who smoke marijuana for any reason are considered criminals. And that’s particularly true if they cultivate it, as Royce did on the couple’s farm.

In 2009, as a jury was deliberating marijuana cultivation charges against Royce, he climbed into the family car and shot himself. His suicide ended the criminal case, but prosecutors decided to seize the couple’s property, even though they never accused Mara Lynn of any crime. Asset Forfeiture Coordinator Tommie Brown Hardwick said, “The bottom line is, we don’t want people to benefit from criminal activity.”

Let’s count all the ways that Mara Lynn Williams has benefited—or not—from criminal activity.

First, prosecutors never accused Royce—or Mara Lynn of actually selling marijuana. They only accused Royce of cultivating it with the intent to sell it. So, Mara Lynn didn’t receive a penny in “criminal proceeds.”

Second, during a raid on the couple’s farm, police seized firearms, $18,400 in cash, vehicles, computers, and other personal belongings. Mara Lynn got some of the vehicles back, but not the cash.

Third, Mara Lynn had to hire an attorney to represent her in the forfeiture case. I’m not privy to the fee arrangements, but typically, attorneys defending civil forfeiture cases receive a retainer of $20,000 or more.

In the meantime, she continued to work as a nurse at Jackson Hospital in Montgomery. The government through its insane drug war had already taken her husband and $18,400 of the couple’s savings. Now it wanted to make her homeless.

In the end, the government settled for the cash. In 2010, it closed civil forfeiture claims against Mara Lynn in exchange for the $18,400 it had already seized. As is typical in civil forfeiture cases, the settlement stipulated, “The parties shall bear their own costs.”12

Far from benefiting from criminal activity, Mara Lynn is out $18,400 in cash, plus attorney fees!