Cade v. One 1987 Dodge Lancer Shelby 4-Door

874 P.2d 542, 125 Idaho 731, 1994 Ida. LEXIS 64
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedMay 20, 1994
DocketNo. 20890
StatusPublished

This text of 874 P.2d 542 (Cade v. One 1987 Dodge Lancer Shelby 4-Door) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cade v. One 1987 Dodge Lancer Shelby 4-Door, 874 P.2d 542, 125 Idaho 731, 1994 Ida. LEXIS 64 (Idaho 1994).

Opinion

BISTLINE, Justice.

The question presented in this case is whether the defensé of entrapment is available in a civil forfeiture action brought pursuant to I.C. § 37-2744, the Uniform Controlled Substances Act. The defense of en[732]*732trapment is available in many criminal charges, but has not been held to apply to civil proceedings. Thus, the Court is faced with an issue of first impression; we conclude that entrapment may apply to a civil proceeding. This issue was properly presented to the magistrate and the matter should therefore be remanded for his ruling whether Allen was entrapped.

BACKGROUND AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

The facts which led up to this suit are as follows. In the fall of 1990, Michael Allen was put in touch with some contractors in regard to a building job he needed done. The contractors were in fact undercover police agents. In a series of conversations with Allen, the police officers asked Allen if he could obtain some marijuana for them, allegedly as a condition to their performing the building job for him at a bargain price. Allen procured two small bags of marijuana for the officers, worth $35 each, and arrived in his 1987 Dodge Lancer to make the delivery. As he delivered the second bag, this time driving an old pickup truck, he was arrested and charged. The police then contacted Allen’s wife, and asked her to drive the Dodge Lancer to the police station to “help” him. When she arrived the police seized the vehicle.

This civil forfeiture action was filed on December 20, 1990. The Complaint alleged that on November 20, 1990, Allens’ vehicle was used in the transportation and delivery of controlled substances. Based on I.C. § 37-2744 the Department of Law Enforcement, through Director Cade, sought to have the vehicle forfeited.

In his Answer, Allen asserts that he was entrapped. He argues that the police inveigled him into committing the crime of delivering marijuana, which he would not otherwise have committed. At a forfeiture hearing before the magistrate judge, Allen presented evidence of entrapment but the magistrate ruled that entrapment is not a defense to a civil forfeiture proceeding, and ordered the vehicle forfeited. On appeal to the district court, Allen argued that entrapment is a viable defense in a forfeiture proceeding pursuant to I.C. § 37-2744, and that it should have been considered by the magistrate judge. The district court agreed with Allen, reversed the magistrate’s ruling on the applicability of the entrapment defense, and remanded the cause. This appeal followed. This Court assigned the case to the Court of Appeals, which reversed the district court and found that entrapment did not apply. Allen petitioned this Court for review.

Concurrently, a criminal case was also filed against Allen. Allen was charged with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, felonies under I.C. § 37-2732(a)(l)(B). Allen initially pled not guilty, but after his charge was reduced to one count he entered a guilty plea.

There are now two issues before this Court: I) Whether entrapment is a viable defense for Allen in a civil forfeiture proceeding pursuant to I.C. § 37-2744; and II) Whether the guilty plea previously entered by Allen on the predicate criminal charge collaterally estops him from raising an entrapment defense in a civil forfeiture proceeding pursuant to I.C. § 37-2744.

ANALYSIS

I. Whether Entrapment May Be A Defense To A Civil Forfeiture Proceeding

In other courts there is a split of authority on whether entrapment applies in civil actions which are predicated upon a criminal violation. The Idaho Supreme Court has not had the occasion to rule on this issue.

One court which rejected the defense in a civil context reasoned that a forfeiture proceeding “is entirely separate from the criminal case” and is “a penalty for the negligence of the owner,” as Cade argues. See United States v. One 1977 Pontiac Grand Prix, 483 F.Supp. 48, 49 (N.D.Ill.1979). Another court has concluded that because the entrapment defense serves to remove a person’s responsibility for a crime he has admitted to committing, it is irrelevant to the separate civil question of whether the government is entitled to take the person’s property because of [733]*733the crime. See United States v. Fifty Thousand Dollars U.S. Currency, 757 F.2d 103 (6th Cir.1985). The United States Supreme Court has never directly addressed this issue. But see United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms, 465 U.S. 354, 104 S.Ct. 1099, 79 L.Ed.2d 361 (1984) (defendant acquitted on entrapment defense in criminal case cannot assert collateral estoppel or double jeopardy in forfeiture proceeding arising out of same conduct).

The dissent in Fifty Thousand Dollars, 757 F.2d at 106 (Merritt, C.J., dissenting), and then-Judge Silak’s dissent in this case before the Court of Appeals, as well as majority opinions in other cases, have reached an opposite conclusion. See, e.g., Zwak v. United States, 848 F.2d 1179 (11th Cir.1988) (tax assessment proceeding); Flam v. City of Miami Beach, 449 So.2d 367, 368-69 (Fla. Dist.Ct.App.1984). These dissents and opinions reason that if a person is entrapped into committing a crime, he is not guilty of the crime, and his property may not be seized under a statute which allows forfeiture as a penalty for violating the statute. For the reasons set out below, we agree with this view.

The Uniform Controlled Substances Act (“the Act”), I.C. § 37-2701 to 2751, makes it unlawful for any person to manufacture or deliver, or to possess with the intent to manufacture or deliver, a controlled substance. Section 2744 (“the forfeiture statute”) provides for forfeiture proceedings against those who violate the Act. The forfeiture statute states:

(a) The following are subject to forfeiture:
(1) All controlled substances which have been manufactured, distributed, dispensed, acquired, possessed or held in violation of this act or with respect to which there has been any act by any person in violation of this act;
(2) All raw materials, products and equipment of any kind which are used, or intended for use, in manufacturing, compounding, processing, delivering, importing, or exporting any controlled substances or counterfeit substances in violation of this act;
(4) All conveyances, including ... vehicles ... which are used, or intended for use, to transport, or in any manner to facilitate the transportation, delivery, receipt, possession or concealment, for the purpose of distribution or receipt of property described in paragraph (1) or (2) hereof . . .
(d) ... Forfeiture proceedings shall be civil actions against the property subject to forfeiture and the standard of proof shall be preponderance of the evidence.
(2) ... The court shall order the property forfeited to the director [of the Department of Law Enforcement] if he determines that such property was used, or intended for use, in violation of this chapter.

I.C. § 37-2744(a)(d) (emphasis added).

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Related

United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms
465 U.S. 354 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Jerald D. Zwak v. United States
848 F.2d 1179 (Eleventh Circuit, 1988)
Flam v. City of Miami Beach
449 So. 2d 367 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1984)

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Bluebook (online)
874 P.2d 542, 125 Idaho 731, 1994 Ida. LEXIS 64, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cade-v-one-1987-dodge-lancer-shelby-4-door-idaho-1994.