Oklahoma police dropped charges of drug trafficking against a member of Burmese Christian rock band, and returned $53,000 raised from concerts, which was initially taken away from them on suspicions of coming from "drug proceeds."
Eh Wah from a Christian Karen community band called Klo & Kweh Music Team from Burma was acquitted of all civil and criminal charges yesterday, after a long battle between Institute of Justice (IJ), representing the defendant, and Oklahoma Muskogee County to clarify facts of the case. The money will also be duly returned to the band.
Wah was driving to his home in Dallas, when he was pulled over in Muskogee for a broken brake light, and $53,000 were found from his vehicle. The police seized the money thinking that it was from drug proceeds, as their sniffer dog got a positive alert from the vehicle, according to an affidavit filed by the department.
However, several studies have shown that dogs are prone to give false positive alerts to drugs and paraphernalia, and are not a conclusive proof for conviction.
"Although no drugs, drug paraphernalia, or any other evidence of drug activity was found, the deputy claims a drug dog alerted on the car. After interrogating Eh Wah for roughly six hours, the Muskogee County Sheriff's Department released him after midnight, but kept all of the cash as supposed drug proceeds,'" said Justin Wilson of IJ.
"Two weeks later, on March 11, Muskogee County District Attorney Orvil Loge filed a formal Notice of Seizure and Forfeiture seeking to keep the funds for good. And on April 5, the Muskogee County DA's office issued an arrest warrant for Eh Wah based on a six-sentence affidavit by the deputy who stopped him. The affidavit does not allege a single fact establishing that Eh Wah committed any crime," he continued.
Forty-year-old Wah was not able to give a statement to the satisfaction of police, as he was not fluent in the language. He had come from Burma as a refugee about a decade ago, and is a naturalized citizen of United States.
"Due to the inconsistent stories and Wah unable to confirm the money was his, the money was seized for evidence, awaiting for charges to be filed for Possession of Drug Proceeds," the deputy said in the affidavit.
Wah worked as a volunteer tour manager and financier of Klo & Kwah, which was on a five-month concert stop in United States. About $33,000 was from ticket sales, and most of this portion was earmarked to be donated to a Christian college in Burma. $8,000 was from band's CD and souvenir sales, $9,000 was a gift to one of the band members from his family and friends in Buffalo, $1,000 was donations made to an orphanage in Thailand, and $2,000 was for band's incidental expenses on the trip.
His band members were surprised when they heard that Wah was being charged for being involved in drug crime.
"It is very, very strange for us, for the whole Karen community," Saw Marvellous Soe, one of the band leaders, told The Washington Post.
"Eh Wah doesn't even know how to smoke. Eh Wah doesn't know how to drink beer," he said. "He's a very simple man, simple and straight."
Finally, Muskogee County dropped the charges against Eh Wah on April 25.
"Wah had court this morning and following court, I looked at the cases and the evidence and talked with the officers involved and concluded that I would not meet my burden of proof in the civil or criminal case, and it required me to act and dismiss [the case] and return the money," District Attorney Orvil Loge told The Daily Signal.
"Civil forfeiture ranks among the most egregious abuses of property rights in the nation today. This case represents one of the most outrageous examples of law enforcement using civil forfeiture laws to ... violate the trust of the citizens they have sworn an oath to protect. Now is the time for state and federal lawmakers to rectify this injustice and outlaw civil forfeiture once and for all," said IJ Attorney Darpana Sheth, who leads IJ's civil forfeiture initiative.
