The Wyoming Legislature is looking at reforming civil asset forfeiture laws.
Asset forfeiture is when law enforcement takes and keeps property like cash, guns, and cars it believes to be associated with drug crimes. In Wyoming, the law doesn’t require a charge or conviction to seize and hold property, nor does it require the police to actually find drugs. To get the property back, owners have to go to court and prove that it was not tied to a drug crime.
The Legislature passed a bill in the 2015 session that would have made it harder for the police to seize assets, but Governor Matt Mead vetoed it.
Steve Klein, an attorney with the Wyoming Liberty Group, says the reform is needed, and not just in Wyoming.
"Since the veto, since our last legislative session, New Mexico, Nevada, and Montana have all reformed civil forfeiture to say that you have to be convicted of a crime. Maryland passed the same law but was also vetoed by their governor. So this is a nationwide conversation," says Klein.
Data presented by the Attorney General’s office at a recent meeting of the Judiciary Committee shows only small portion of the cash that is taken is ever returned to its owners – less than 15 percent.
Wyoming currently has nothing on the books about asset forfeiture, so the Attorney General has a lot of leeway in handling cases. Klein says Wyoming has, for the most part, been fair in its treatment of forfeiture.
"Nevertheless, we’re a government of laws and we need to have this process written down so that it’s understandable, and doesn’t necessarily change on the fly," he says.
The Joint Judiciary Committee will decide in its next meeting on a bill to present to the 2016 legislature.