MS: A case seizure after a consent search leads to no forfeiture; no evidence of wrongdoing

Claimant was stopped, and he consented to a search producing money. The order of forfeiture is reversed. The facts, when taken as a whole, did not show by more than just suspicion that the money discovered in a driver’s vehicle was garnered or provided to be used in exchange for drugs where there was no actual tie between the money and illegal drug trafficking, the residue in the vehicle’s hidden compartment that the officers alleged appeared to be marijuana was never collected, preserved, or tested, the driver was never charged with any crime relating to possession of illegal narcotics stemming from the traffic stop, he had no prior criminal record or known illegal drug involvement at the time of the incident, the driver had very recently purchased the vehicle second-hand, and had a plausible explanation for every question asked of him. Apolinar v. State, 2016 Miss. App. LEXIS 621 (Sept. 27, 2016).*

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