Family suing to reclaim $48,000 illegally seized by police

IOWA CITY, IA–The state is a cruel & hungry mistress, and nobody’s money is safe.

While driving to Minnesota with his wife and four children, Kearnice Overton was stopped by Iowa City police while traveling in a group of vehicles that were speeding, according to his court documents.

A K-9 unit was brought in, and police state that the dog gave a “silent indicator on the vehicle.” On those grounds, police justified searching the car, and subsequently found $44,000 in a gym bag in the trunk. An additional $4,000 was discovered in Overton’s jacket. Overton insists in court documents that the money had no ties to criminal activity, but was being used to buy property from his cousin in Illinois.

Iowa City Police Sgt. Vicki Lalla defended the seizure, stating to Iowa City Press-Citizen, “It’s very unusual for people to be out and about with that much cash on their person or in their car,” she said.

Police are allowed to use drug sniffing dogs during lawful traffic stops thanks to the 2005 case Illinois v. Caballes. The Court declared that “the use of a well-trained narcotics-detection dog…during a lawful traffic stop generally does not implicate legitimate privacy interests.” Yet K-9 units have a very high false positive rate. Police claim the dogs give “passive alerts” and “silent indicators”, even when there are no drugs present, to justify searching a vehicle.

The Institute for Justice compiled an amicus brief for the U.S. Supreme Court, stating, “There are countless examples of police seizing large sums of cash based on nothing more than a positive dog alert.” These false positives are a smoke screen, giving the police a chance to steal whatever valuables they find in someone’s car. In Iowa, the incentive is particularly high since law enforcement can keep 100 percent of the proceeds from forfeited property.


Overton doesn’t plan on surrendering his money, and is continuing to pursue the matter in his lawsuit against the Iowa City Police Department. “This money was wrongfully seized. I was not arrested, nor were any charges lodged against me in connection with this money. This money was in no way connected to any criminal activity,” Overton stated in a court document.

Overton will get his day in court May 6th, but it’s unlikely he will get his property back due to Iowa’s preventative civil forfeiture laws. According to the Institute for Justice’s report, “Policing for Profit”, “Americans are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but civil forfeiture turns that principle on its head. With civil forfeiture, your property is guilty until you prove it innocent.”

In most court cases, your guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but Overton already has the cards stacked against him. He received a citation during the traffic stop for driving without a valid driver’s license. In court documents, Overton states he did have a valid license during the time of the stop, but his charge is still pending as his court date moves closer.

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