Court Interprets Procedural Requirements in Civil Forfeiture Statute
Last January, police arrested a driver for driving under the influence. The driver was charged with aggravated DUI because he was driving with a suspended license from a prior DUI offense, and his truck was not insured at the time of the arrest. The police also seized the truck the Defendant was driving pursuant to state civil forfeiture of vehicle laws. 720 ILCS 5/36-1.5(a)
A month after the arrest, the State filed notice and a petition for preliminary determination of probable cause at the court’s next available hearing, which was 18 days after police seized the driver's truck. State law required the State to “seek” a preliminary determination over whether the police had probable cause to seize property within 14 days of taking it.
At the hearing, the driver asked the court to dismiss the action, arguing that because more than 14 days had passed since police seized his truck, it did not comply with state law. The trial court denied the motion, finding that the petition was filed on time, and that probable cause existed for the police to seize the vehicle.
On
appeal, the main question was whether the State was required to obtain a
preliminary determination of probable cause within 14 days of seizing the
truck, or if requesting a hearing within that time frame was enough to satisfy
the statutory requirement. This question turned on the meaning of the word
“seek” in the statute. The driver argued that “seek” meant the State had to
obtain a court ruling on probable cause to satisfy the requirement. However,
the Appellate Court determined that the word “seek” only required the State to
“request or try to acquire” a preliminary determination on probable cause
within the 14-day time frame. As a result, the Appellate Court held that the State satisfied the statutory requirement
by requesting a hearing within the 14-day period.
Post Authored by Rachel Defries & Julie Tappendorf, Ancel Glink
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