re: This might be the civil forfeiture case to end all civil forfeiture cases.

You really don't understand why this happens? Holy shite. When these laws first came on the books, police and DAs had some discretion. But then lawyers got involved. Next thing you know, the police and DAs had to treat everyone the same. If you let one person off, for whatever reason, that could be used as the basis for a lawsuit.(You took my stuff, why didn't you take theirs ) It's easier to take everyone's shite and have the ones that got fricked over sue, than it is to having to defend why you didn't follow the exact letter of the law.