Dissolving Constitutional Rights

Regarding the Casper Star-Tribune report on April 11, "Seized millions sit," is a reminder of how our constitutional rights are quickly dissolving through a loophole in the criminal justice system.

According to the Casper Start-Tribune, the vehicle was traveling 4 miles per hour over the speed limit and had an "obscure license plate." They called a canine to search the outside of the vehicle and the dog alerted to the bed of the truck. The highway patrol discovered $3.25 million in cash. Since the occupants claimed no knowledge of the cash, they were free to go, of course after the money was confiscated. Sounds to me like law enforcement took the property on an assumption? They did, and it happens all the time.

Law enforcement can now call in the dogs to circumvent the Fourth Amendment of search and seizure without having reasonable suspicion, as long as the traffic stop was legitimate. If drug dogs alert to a scent on the outside of a vehicle, law enforcement has probable cause to search the vehicle, just as it happened in this case.

In 2005, Illinois vs. Caballes, the Supreme Court ruled that a drug dog sniff is not implicated under the fourth Amendment. Drug dogs do not have to be 100% accurate. In fact, the courts have allowed drug dogs to return false positives. According to a University of Auburn study, drug dogs return false positive rates 12.5-60% of the time, depending on the length of the search (www.civilliberties.org/newslet/dogsniffs.html).

In 1974, the Supreme Court ruled, despite the Fifth Amendment's assertion that "no person be deprived of...property without due process of law." The Supreme Court held that law enforcement can seize and sell property, without any arrest, conviction, or due process. This means that property itself can be guilty, allowing law enforcement to take property without a conviction or an arrest, putting the owner in a position to prove the property has no connection to a crime.

This case is a prime example of how the expanded powers of law enforcement fundamentally violate our constitutional rights. These unconstitutional laws presume guilt until there is proof of innocence.