Lawsuit Claims Philly Illegally Seizes Homes to Fund DA's Office I Wonder If Seth Williams Is Related To eric holder ?
One local family said they are fighting to keep their home after police charged their son in a $40 drug-possession case, even though the son has no ownership stake in the $300,000 home. By MaryClaire Dale
One local family said they are fighting to keep their home after police charged their son in a $40 drug-possession case, even though the son has no ownership stake in the $300,000 home. By MaryClaire Dale
A new class action lawsuit claims Philadelphia city leaders have been misusing their power to seize property.
Wednesday, Aug 13, 2014 • Updated at 12:42 AM EDT
City prosecutors have illegally seized millions of dollars' worth of homes, cars and cash to help fund their office, civil rights lawyers said Tuesday in announcing a class-action lawsuit.
The lawyers found that Philadelphia seizes nearly $6 million worth of property each year through the civil asset forfeiture program, which allows property to be seized if police believe it is linked to crimes, even before anyone is convicted.
Greek immigrant Christos Sourovelis and his wife, Markela, said they are fighting to keep their home after police charged their son in a $40 drug-possession case, even though the son has no ownership stake in the $300,000 home. They were forced out of their home for a week in May, and must now wade through what the lawsuit called a "rigged system" of endless proceedings run by prosecutors themselves as they try to save it, they said.
"I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't bother anybody," Sourovelis said at a news conference Tuesday organized by the Institute for Justice, the Arlington, Virginia, nonprofit law group that filed the lawsuit. His son's drug case remains pending, lawyers said.
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