Subject: Fwd: [LPNY DISCUSS] Liberty: -- Talking Points -- US Government selling marijuana car Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2003 10:54:41 -0400 To: From: Bob Armstrong --- Original Message --- From: "Marc Brands Liberty" To: Marc Brands Liberty Sent: Wed, 16 Jul 2003 10:35:28 -0400 Subject: [LPNY DISCUSS] Liberty: -- Talking Points -- US= Government selling marijuana car Man wins right to sue U.S. government over pot car LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- A Mexican national may sue= the U.S. government for selling him a car with a hidden load of marijuana,= and then arresting him when he tried to cross the U.S.- Mexico border in= it, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found the government's= argument that it should be immune from Jose Aguado Cervantes' lawsuit was "so off= the mark as to be embarrassing." The appellate panel reinstated Cervantes' negligence claims= against the government for allegedly failing to find and remove the drugs= from the car he purchased in July of 1999 at a U.S. Marshals Service Auction= in San Diego, California. Four months earlier, the car was seized by the Immigration and Naturalization Service after it was used to transport illegal= immigrants into the United States but agents apparently failed to notice 199= pounds of marijuana secreted in its bumpers, the court said. But the justices decided that Cervantes, a resident of Mexico,= could not sue for false imprisonment or false arrest because U.S. Customs= agents who found the pot when Cervantes tried to cross the border from= Mexico to the United States in October of 1999 "had reasonable cause to believe= his arrest was lawful." Cervantes spent three and a half months in jail, charged with= drug smuggling. He was released after U.S. investigators realized that= the marijuana, which had been welded into the bumper, was so= decomposed that it could not have been placed there just months earlier,= Cervantes' attorney Stephen Estey of San Diego said. Estey called the court's decision to overturn the lower court "refreshing." "My client is a 67-year-old grandfather and has never had so much= as a parking ticket in his life," Estey said. "He has a remarkably= good outlook ... it was a rough ride." The justices criticized prosecutors for failing to heed their= earlier order to settle the case, saying the government "thumbs its nose= at its obligation to see that justice is done." A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego declined= to comment because the case was still being ltigated. Source: CNN Archive: http://www.liberty-news.com/newsletter.html =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D Quote: - No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of= society. If we're looking for the sources of our troubles, we shouldn't= test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance,= greed, and love of power. -- P. J. O'Rourke (1992) =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D To Post Comments, Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Change E-mail Address or Other inquires please go to the following link for instructions: http://www.liberty-news.com/sub.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ~~~ LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK ~~~ ~~~~~~ http://www.ny.lp.org ~~~~~~ To unsubscribe, send an empty message to lpny_discuss-unsubscribe@egroups.com --=A0 =A0Bob Armstrong -- http://CoSy.com -- 212-285-1864 Liberty : http://cosy.com/Liberty.htm =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A02003/07/16 10:51:15 AM