By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//September 20, 2013//
United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit
Criminal
Forfeiture — sufficiency of the evidence
A drug-sniffing dog’s alert on currency is insufficient to show that the money is the proceeds of drug trafficking.
“Marrocco’s affidavit testimony recounting his employment history and relatively expense-free living arrangements for much of the 1990s creates a dispute of material fact regarding whether the Funds could have been Marrocco’s legally acquired life savings. Additionally, Marrocco’s expert evidence—which we accept as true because the district court did not resolve the government’s challenges under Daubert and Federal Rule of Evidence 702—also creates disputes of material fact impacting the question of whether Deny’s alert demonstrates that the Funds recently were in contact with illegal drugs.”
Reversed and Remanded.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Bucklo, J., Manion, J.