FEAR-List Bulletin posted by Matt Elrod, forwarded from
Darryl Brown, University of Dayton  1-22-98

The 4th Circuit Ct of Appeals just ruled, in *Lynn v West,* that North Carolina's "drug tax" law (a forfeiture-law-in-disguise on the books in many states) is in fact a criminal penalty for double jeopardy purposes. Does anyone know of the use of such a ruling to prohibit criminal prosecutions connected with the same drugs that prompted the forfeiture? That is, the state usually takes the person's assets long before the prosecution is complete. Can a defendant who has had assets taken pursuant to this "drug tax" use Lynn v West to bar prosecution on double-jeopardy grounds? (That was not the case in Lynn itself.)

Darryl Brown