European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 12, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday August 12, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 5 s drug Law gone awry paper report Cash property of innocent people seized Pittsburgh a a Federal Law designed to give police the right to seize the luxurious possessions of major drug dealers has ensnared the Homes cars and Cash of Law abiding people a newspaper reported sunday. The Pittsburgh press said it documented 510 cases involving innocent people a or those possessing a very Small amount of drugs a who lost their possessions during a 10-month period. One of them was Willie Jones of Nashville tenn., the press said. The gardening contractor bundled up $9,600 from last years profits in february and headed for Houston to buy Flowers and shrubs. He makes the trip twice a year. As he waited at an Airport Gate two police officers who searched him seized his Money. They believed he was buying or Selling drugs the newspaper reported. The police let Jones go gave him a receipt and kept his Money. No evidence of wrongdoing was produced and no charges were filed. The Money was never returned the press said. Eight of 10 people who lose property to the Federal government Are never charged said Cary Copeland executive director of the Justice department s asset forfeiture fund. A forfeiture Laws were expanded in 1984 to allow the government to take possessions without first charging the owner. The proceeds finance More investigations. Eliminating the need to prove a crime has moved most action to civil court where the government accuses the item not the owner of being tainted by crime. Quot As a result a jury trials can be re fused illegal searches condoned rules of evidence ignored Quot said Donald Heavrin a defense lawyer. The Quot frenzied quest for  he said is a destroying the judicial  but forfeiture does fight crime said George Terwilliger 111, who is in charge of the Justice department s forfeiture program. A we re not at All apologetic about the fact that we do Benefit from it Quot he said. From 19s6 to 1990, the Justice department got $1.5 billion from forfeitures. It estimates it will take in $500 million this year. Federal agencies say they have made the of most of the Law in getting big time criminals. They boast of sizing Jinan Sions planes and millions in Cash. But the Dea s own data base showed that big ticket items were Only 17 per cent of 25.297 things seized during the 18 months that ended in december the newspaper reported. Properties seized from innocent people also included cars and Homes it said. For example in april 1989 deputies in Jefferson Davis Parish la., seized $23,000 in Cash and a truck belonging to Johnny sotello saying a space in the truck buld have been used to hide drugs. Sotello said he was carrying the Cash because he was on his Way to an auction. He never was charged. In a Deal Cut in March he got his truck Back and Only half his Money that newspaper reported. The press said it reviewed 25.000 seizures made by the Dea. Reporters interviewed 1,600 prosecutors defense lawyers police officers Federal agents and victims and examined court documents from the 510  makes Case Tor physician assisted suicide or. Jack Kevorkian sits by his Book prescription med Icide a the goodness of planned death. Royal Oak Mich. Apr a doctor who assisted a suicide last year takes on what he terms the a Stone age ethics of space age Medicine Quot in a Book due out within two weeks. A or. Jack Kevorkian a retired pathologist in suburban Detroit hooked an alzheimer a patient to a suicide device he devised allowing her to inject herself with a fatal dose of drugs june 4, 1990. Kevorkian was cleared of first degree murder in the death of Janet Adkins 54, of Portland Ore. But he was barred from using the machine again. His 244-Page Book prescription Medicine a the goodness of planned death provides ethical arguments for his causes allowing medical experimentation and Organ donation from death Row inmates and legalizing physician assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. A anybody who a facing imminent and unavoidable death should be Given the Choice to die humanely in an acceptable environment a Kevorkian said in an interview. A that is a self determination. That is based on the autonomy of the persons  the books chapters include a the hippocratic oafs a a Stone age ethics for space age Medicine Quot and a the birth of  the Book follows publication of final exit a Book that gives detailed instructions on to smiting suicide. The new York times said last week that the Book by Derek Humphry executive director of the Hemlock society based in Eugene Ore., reached no. I on its upcoming Best seller list for hardcover advice books. Since the Adkins Case journalists talk show hosts medical ethicist politicians and physicians have addressed a a Medicine a a term Kevorkian coined for physician assisted suicide. A this Book is my answer to anybody Quot he said. A i wont debate this Issue anymore. It s an honest Book honestly stated. That a Why critics Call me  Kevorkian writes of a prisoners being put to death while eight patients in need of transplanted organs die because prisoners cannot donate. 1 a Why did All others die when the criminal was ceremoniously sacrificed on the altar of Justice a he writes. A n the stars and stripbs10 years ago aug. 12,1981 a travellers encountered More trans Atlantic delays and flight cancellations As a Boycott by Canadian controllers choked the flow of  air traffic. .20 years ago t aug. 12,1971 More than 12,000 British troops battled snipers in Northern Ireland in an Effort to bring the province Back from the Brink of civil War. The fourth Day of violence pushed the death toll to 23.30 years ago aug. 12,1961 a the East German parliament gave the government a Blank Check to take any measures necessary to halt the record flight of refugees to West berlin.40 years ago aug. 12,1951 a while treaty negotiators continued to differ on armistice terms . Forces hammered communist troops in Korea in an attempt to slow the communist buildup for an offensive. Lie Detector examiner says woman definitely raped by Kennedy Smith by the Washington Post a polygraph specialist who administered a lie Detector test to the woman accusing William Kennedy Smith of rape said she is a definitely telling the truth a and he disputes defense claims that her a a inconsistent statements to police prove she is lying. Warren Holmes a leading polygraph examiner who has worked on hundreds of rape cases made the statements in a 117-Page affidavit released late Friday. Holmes said the woman a initial confusion a whether she had been raped once or twice by Smith at what Point she took off her pantyhose and Why she mistakenly called Smith a a Michael after the alleged rape a was Normal Given her traumatic experience. A in my opinion it lends credibility to her Story a he said adding that he would be a More suspicious of Here if All her Dell Iii were precise. Smiths lawyers Roy e. Black and Mark Schnapp cited these a inconsistent statements and a bizarre behave or in their statement filed Friday saying they were trying to prove that the woman was a mentally unstable and lying. Holmes said he believed the woman called Smith a a Michael As an understandable reference to her Stepfather whom she described to him As  the woman also told him that she had been beaten by her biological father when she was a child. A it lends credibility to her Story because she a associating two distasteful things in her life a he said. Holmes a former head of the Miami police department lie detection Bureau said that there was a no Way the woman could have fabricated the look on her face and emotion in her voice when she described Smith. A she described4>im�?sitting there saying a Well no one will believe  you see it come in her face the reliving Man there s no Way you can be making that up a said Holmes. Policy won t reduce wetlands Bush says Kennebunkport Maine a president Bush defended his administrations new wetlands policy saturday saying the plan does no to mean he s abandoned a j988 Campaign Promise. A a we re going to have no net loss of wetlands. Our policy is Good a Bush told a reporter. A the policy unveiled Friday would redefine wetlands and apparently exclude millions of acres that previously had fallen under Federal Protection. Conservationists accused the president of abandoning his pledge to achieve a no net loss Quot of the nation s estimated 100 million wetlands acres. Quot a pothole in the Back Yard is not wetlands Quot Bush said. A a we re not going to screech this country to a Hall and throw everybody out of work in the  agricultural and other interests have complained Ahjit wetlands regulation precluded development of natural resources and caused Job losses. Jay d. Hair president of the National wildlife federation said Friday that Bush a policy Quot represents a death sentence Lor millions of acres of this critical american  ,