An Horry County judge ruled again if South Carolina police seizure law is constitutional
An Horry County judge declined to change his ruling that called the state’s police forfeiture law unconstitutional.
Steven John, the presiding judge for Horry and Georgetown counties, heard arguments on Friday about whether he should change his August ruling.
His decision was in a case where the police sought to keep $20,000 seized from the home of Travis Lee Green during a drug investigation. The practice is called a civil forfeiture and were fairly routine in court filings. Police often sought to keep guns, money and other items seized during drug investigations. But, the practice has come into question following media reports.
In August, John ruled the state’s civil forfeiture practice is unconstitutional and noted police use the money to help fund their departments.
The state asked John to reconsider his decision, but he declined to alter his order, lawyers from both sides confirmed.
Jimmy Richardson, Solicitor for the 15th Judicial Circuit, said last week that the ruling only applied to Horry and Georgetown counties and placed them under a different set of regulations compared to the other 44 South Carolina counties.
Richardson said on Friday that officials will review John’s most recent order to determine if the state will appeal the case.
Police have to seize all the evidence in a case so it can be used in court, Richardson said. He added it’s not practice for officers to only take the drugs and let someone go with the guns and money.
“You can’t have a traffic stop without having a seizure,” Richardson said. “There is a seizure every time.”
The argument is over what should happen to the items after they are seized, Richardson said.
“Horry and Georgetown are in a sort of no man’s land right now,” he said.
