A Pulaski County circuit judge has ordered prosecutors and the attorney for a North Carolina man to try to work out their differences over the ownership of $43,000 confiscated by Arkansas State Police during a stop for speeding.
Circuit Judge Tim Fox ordered the sides to attempt to reach a settlement and report back after a month before he has to decide the cash's rightful owner. The judge's order was issued Monday, a week after the lawyers appeared before him to argue over who is entitled to the money.
Defense attorney David Cannon of Little Rock said that the state has no claim on the cash.
To stake a claim on behalf of law enforcement, authorities have invoked Arkansas' asset forfeiture law, which is aimed at forcing drug dealers to surrender cash and property acquired through illegal activity.
A third of an ounce of marijuana was found in the car, but Cannon said the law doesn't allow confiscation when the amount of illegal drugs discovered would only amount to a misdemeanor.
Cannon said a gun found in the car, which police reported to have been stolen in North Carolina, is also insufficient evidence to justify forfeiture of the cash because prosecutors acknowledge that they likely can't prove the gun was stolen by his client.
Authorities have to prove the money played a role in felony drug-trafficking activity, Cannon said.
The evidence shows that his client and a passenger were on their way to a California vacation, which they were paying for in cash, and they were carrying a gun for self-protection, Cannon said.
They'd likely just consumed some marijuana before police stopped the car, he said.
But deputy prosecutor Jason Ables argued that the money was discovered in connection with a felony drug crime. He said the discovery of the cash, in close proximity to illegal drugs and a firearm, whether stolen or not, gives the judge grounds to conclude that authorities are entitled to the money.
The simultaneous possession of drugs and a firearm constitutes a Class Y felony, one of the state's most serious crimes, Ables said. Such felonies carry criminal penalties comparable to rape and murder, with potential prison sentences of 10 to 40 years or life.
The forfeiture law does not allow the decision of ownership to rest on whether 25-year-old Elias Cardenas was charged with a felony like simultaneous possession, or whether he was convicted of any wrongdoing, the prosecutor said.
A police report said Cardenas claimed ownership of the gun and marijuana but refused to speak further with investigators.
State police recommended he be charged with simultaneous possession. But prosecutors, who decide which charges to pursue in court, filed charges of felony theft by receiving a firearm and misdemeanor marijuana possession against him.
They dropped the charges last month when police failed to bring the evidence to court in time for Cardenas' trial.
To prove that the money was connected to illegal drug activity, the prosecutor cited police testimony that the manner in which the bulk of the cash was kept -- 42 rubber-banded bundles -- is a common practice among drug dealers for handling large amounts of cash.
Another indicator of potential illegal activity cited by the prosecutor was police testimony that Cardenas did not own the car he was driving. The vehicle was registered to someone else in North Carolina and had only been registered and insured a week before Cardenas' arrest, Ables said.
Drug traffickers rarely use cars that can be connected to them when they're engaged in illegal activity, according to police testimony.
The state police Highway Patrol division reports that Cardenas was stopped after a trooper radar-checked him driving at 99 mph on westbound Interstate 40 near the Faulkner County line. Cardenas said he and his unnamed passenger were on their way to California for a vacation.
Cardenas was arrested for careless and prohibited driving. Police found the contraband while searching the car as part of his arrest. Most of the $43,069 seized by police was in a backpack in the car's trunk.
Metro on 10/05/2016