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filed a claim in District Court asserting that he owned the
currency, that it was not the proceeds of narcotics
trafficking, and that evidence of the currency should be
suppressed in the District Court proceeding because it was
the product of an unconstitutional search and seizure in
violation of the Fourth Amendment. The District Court
granted petitioner's motion to suppress the evidence seized
in the search and all statements made by petitioner after
the search as fruit of the unlawful seizure, stating:
What happened on February 28, 1993, as shown by
the evidence, is that an experienced officer had a
hunch that two young men might be transporting
drug proceeds; he did not have probable cause or a
reasonable suspicion supported by articulable
facts. He stopped and questioned the two men in a
way that placed them under his control after the
first few moments. Consent given under what the
subject feels to be compulsion is not voluntary.
* * * Here, if consenting words were in fact
uttered, they were not spoken voluntarily.
United States v. $138,921 in U.S. Currency, No. C93-1116WD,
slip op. at 4-5 (W.D. Wash., July 27, 1994) (order on motion
to suppress). The District Court held that the Government
did not sustain its burden of proof to show consent and
there was no other basis on which the warrantless search
could be held lawful. Id. at 5. Petitioner subsequently
consented to forfeiture of $18,921 of the seized currency,
and the remaining $120,000 was returned to him.
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