§712A-11 Judicial forfeiture proceedings; general. (1) In any judicial or administrative proceeding pursuant to this chapter, the court, on application of the State, may enter any restraining order or injunction, require the execution of satisfactory performance bonds, create receiverships, appoint conservators, appraisers, accountants or trustees, or take any other action to seize, secure, maintain, or preserve the availability of property subject to forfeiture under this chapter, including a warrant for its seizure, whether before or after the filing of a petition for forfeiture, complaint, or indictment.

(2) If property is seized for forfeiture without a seizure warrant, a prior judicial order of forfeiture, or a hearing pursuant to section 712A-13, a court, on an application filed by an owner or interest-holder within fifteen days after notice of its seizure for forfeiture or actual knowledge of it, whichever is earlier, and complying with the requirements for claims in section 712A-12, may issue an order to show cause to the seizing agency, with thirty days' notice to the prosecuting attorney, for a hearing on the issue of whether probable cause for forfeiture of the applicant's interest then exists, provided that, the order to show cause shall be set aside upon the filing of a petition for either administrative or judicial forfeiture prior to the hearing, in which event forfeiture proceedings shall be in accordance with this chapter.

(3) There shall be a rebuttable presumption that any property of a person is subject to forfeiture under this chapter if the State establishes, by the standard of proof applicable to that proceeding, all of the following:

(a) That the person has engaged in criminal conduct for which property is subject to forfeiture;

(b) That the property was acquired by the person during the period of the criminal conduct or within a reasonable time after that period; and

(c) That there was no likely source for the property other than the criminal conduct giving rise to forfeiture.

(4) A finding that property is the proceeds of criminal conduct giving rise to forfeiture does not require proof that the property is the proceeds [of] any particular exchange or transaction.

(5) A defendant convicted in any criminal proceeding shall be precluded from subsequently denying the essential allegations of the criminal offense of which the defendant was convicted in any proceeding pursuant to this chapter. For the purposes of this chapter, a conviction may result from a verdict or plea, including a no contest plea, or deferred acceptance of guilty plea, or no contest plea.

(6) An acquittal or dismissal in a criminal proceeding shall not preclude civil proceedings under this chapter.

(7) In any judicial forfeiture proceeding pursuant to this chapter, if a defense is based on an exemption provided for in this chapter, the burden of proving the existence of the exemption is on the claimant or party raising the defense, and it is not necessary to negate the exemption in any petition, application, complaint, or indictment.

(8) For good cause shown, on motion by the prosecuting attorney, the court may stay discovery against the State in civil forfeiture proceedings prior to trial on a criminal complaint or indictment arising from the same conduct and against a claimant who is a defendant in the criminal proceeding after making provision to prevent loss to any party resulting from the delay. The stay provided by this subsection shall not be available pending appeal of any order or judgment in the criminal proceeding.

(9) The court shall receive and consider, at any hearing held pursuant to this chapter, except the hearing on claims pursuant to sections 712A-12(4) through (8) and 712A-13(7), evidence and information which would be admissible under the rules of penal procedure relating to preliminary hearings.

(10) All property, including all interest in such property, declared forfeited under this chapter vests in this State on the commission of the act or omission giving rise to forfeiture under this chapter together with the proceeds of the property after the act or omission. Any property or proceeds transferred to any person after the act or omission are subject to forfeiture and thereafter shall be ordered forfeited unless the transferee claims and establishes in a hearing pursuant to this chapter the showings set out in section 712A-5(2). [L 1988, c 260, pt of §1, §7; am L 1990, c 197, §1; am L 1991, c 166, §6; am L 1993, c 196, §1; am L 1996, c 104, §6]

Case Notes

The State must prove the existence of a substantial connection between the currency being forfeited and the illegal activity; where $1,300 of the subject currency was substantially connected to appellant's illegal gambling activity and subsection (4) provides that the State need not trace the proceeds exactly, $1,300 was properly ordered forfeited to the State. 104 H. 323, 89 P.3d 823 (2004).

Where State failed to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the subject currency of $1,900 seized from appellant's trousers was involved in appellant's gambling transactions, trial court erred in ordering currency forfeited to State; there was no evidence connecting currency to any illegal activity, and absent proof of a substantial connection between the illegal activity and the res, the currency was not subject to forfeiture. 104 H. 323, 89 P.3d 823 (2004).