Louisiana Supreme Court Upholds Police Right To Seize Motorists’ Cash

By on December 9, 2012 in News 10

The burden of proof is on the driver to explain how they earned their money — otherwise, it belongs to the police. Information Liberation reports:

Drivers in Louisiana unable to document the source of every dollar they carry could find their money seized by police. The state Supreme Court yesterday ruled officers were right to grab $144,320 from motorist Tina Beers because, in the high court’s opinion, she was unable to come up with a credible explanation of where the funds came from.

On January 10, 2009, State Trooper Dupuis pulled over Beers’ minivan on Interstate 10. Beers traveling with her three children. The court record no longer preserves the cause of the original traffic stop because Dupuis quickly lost interest once he obtained permission to search the vehicle. The trooper found nine bundles of cash in compartment on the minivan floor. Dupuis knew his department might be able to keep the money, [which they did], but there were no drugs in the minivan nor did prosecutors ever find a criminal charge to lodge against Beers.

In his affidavit, Trooper Mire testified the money was bundled with rubber bands, sealed in plastic shrink wrapping, and hidden in the vehicle’s floor compartment. These facts, combined with the “nervous” demeanor of Beers is all it takes to confiscate money, in the state Supreme Court’s view.

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  • BuzzCoastin

    Pigs have long been crooks
    Louisiana made it legal

  • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

    brilliant.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=742104313 Adam Goodwin

    Is it me or is official corruption becoming more brazen and open in the last few years? I mean wearing a gun and taking someone’s money without even so much as justifying why? And then this little nugget: “The court record no longer preserves the cause of the original traffic
    stop because Dupuis quickly lost interest once he obtained permission to
    search the vehicle.” Who cares if she was driving dangerously, as long as we can get an opportunity to pillage from the public.

    I think it’s a sign of the demise of the old establishment system. Symptoms of it pop up everywhere–the authorities are desperate. Watch Max Keiser for a while and you see how boldfaced the stealing has become. As economic growth stalls and the wealth pie begins to shrink, the only thing left to do by the usurious, pillaging class is to do what they do best until it doesn’t work anymore–thievery.

  • charlieprimero

    Americans *want* to live in a police state.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jacob.garrison.31 Jacob Garrison

    Am I the only one who thinks its weird she had that much money and couldn’t come up with a reason for having it? Doesn’t sound legit. I hate police corruption as much as the next guy but this isn’t a really good example. I’d have to know more about the case before I could make any real judgement but from what I am reading here I’m not that upset. I highly doubt she would have gotten to keep the money even if she was never stopped. Unless she was stealing it from a criminal in the first place.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=742104313 Adam Goodwin

      Huh? Does it not strike you as strange that someone actually needs to fucking justify to someone else why they have money? Is it the whole scary gun, shiney badge and flashing lights thing that throws you off?

    • infvocuernos

      I hear what you are saying, and that is exactly why they cops and judges feel it is ok to keep the money, but I doubt she was really a criminal, as most all criminals( the ones rolling around with $144k in cash anyway, know that any amount over $10,000 will require some proof of how you obtained it. They intentionally break up shipments of large money for this reason. Travelling with that much money is a redflag, so I would guess she just ripped off some real crook, and got caught making the getaway, like at the beginning of Psycho, but instead of Norman Bates catching her, the cops got her.

  • I, Lobot

    $ you have
    - $ cops think u should have
    ____________________________
    $ cops now own

  • Rotwang

    You should never make enforcing the law profitable.

  • marvin nubwaxer

    so the police can act just like a gang legally. usa usa usa