<http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lidrunk1124,0,3777168.story
?coll=ny-linews-headlines>


Court: Nassau's Drunk Driving Seizure Law Too Broad
By The Associated Press

November 24, 2003, 2:43 PM EST

ALBANY -- The state's highest court Monday struck down a Nassau County law
allowing authorities to seize the automobiles of people caught driving
while drunk.

The Court of Appeals said in a 6-0 ruling that the Long Island county's law
was too loosely written and that it could allow for forfeiture of autos
involved in far less serious offenses, such as tail light violations. If
the law was invoked in that way, the judges said, it would represent
unconstitutionally excessive punishment.

However, the ruling written by Chief Judge Judith Kaye affirmed the
legality in general of car seizure laws, saying they "can be an extremely
effective tool in the battle against drunk driving."

Nassau County's attempt to seize Michaele Canavan's 1995 Saturn in 2000 was

"not at all disproportionate to the gravity of her offense," the high court
said.

"The offense with which she was originally charged -- driving while
intoxicated -- is a very serious crime," Kaye wrote. "Grievous harm to
innocent victims could have been caused by defendant's driving with a blood
alcohol level of 0.15 percent while speeding and weaving in and out of
lanes, had she not been caught and stopped."

Kaye concluded that "it is difficult to imagine that forfeiture of an
automobile for such a crime could ever be excessive."

The court said it was acceptable that the county's law provides for seizure
of a person's car, without a hearing, following their arrest. But it ruled
Monday that a "prompt" post-seizure hearing must be held in every case to
ensure that a seizure was not done erroneously. Nassau County's law does
not provide for such a hearing, the court noted.

. . .

County officials said they had seized or initiated forfeiture proceedings

about 1,500 times under the law. They said they only invoked seizure for
impaired driving cases, not other traffic violations.

New York City, Suffolk County and upstate Rensselaer County also have laws
on the books allowing authorities to seize vehicles operated by drunken
drivers.


******************************************************
FEAR also offers an unmoderated discussion list and digests for all lists
List unsubscribe: mailto:fear-list-request@mapinc.org?Body=unsubscribe
Swap to digest: mailto:owner-fear-list@mapinc.org?subject=digest
******************************************************