More Money and Drugs and Muncie

From reading Judge proposes rules aimed at DTF 'ethical concerns', I am pretty sure that Delaware County is now leading the state on dealing with proceeds from drug forfeiture cases, but then I am no longer doing these kind of cases. Anyone knowing any different can feel free to correct me, but I do not think any other county has the sort of rules proposed by Judge Dailey over in in Muncie.

New rules governing local drug forfeiture cases could end the practice of the Muncie-Delaware County Drug Task Force and its attorney, County Prosecutor Mark McKinney, of seizing -- and spending -- money from alleged drug dealers without court orders.

Delaware Circuit Court 2 Judge Richard Dailey on Thursday gave local officials a draft of those rules, which would require criminal cases to be disposed of before any civil drug forfeiture is ordered.

And forfeitures would be handled by an attorney under written contract who is either not a deputy prosecutor or a salaried deputy prosecutor not assigned to any criminal prosecutions.

"That eliminates any ethical concerns," Dailey said of the proposed policy. "There are no questions that justice is for sale."

The next question is should other counties have these kind of rules?