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Defense lawyers are trying to stop the pair’s criminal trial from beginning on June 11, arguing in federal court that it’s unconstitional to criminalize carrying massive amounts of greenbacks in the Garden State.
Reasonable minds ABSOLUTELY would question what the two were doing with a mil and a quarter in two duffel bags when neither is, or works for, a known entrepreneur. Amaya said someone paid him to shuttle the cash to California in Mejia’s truck when a special drug trafficking unit of the State Police stopped them.
If their lawyers can’t stop the trial, Belarmino Amaya and Carlos Mejia could each be looking at 20 years behind bars.
Many people have been known to distrust banks and either stash away or transport large amounts of cash for clearly legitimate use. Many also have been stopped in New Jersey and had tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash confiscated. They then had to fight in court to get their money back or lose it to forfeiture. Local law enforcement then uses the money for its own purposes, such as equipment or programs.
All of which could make this case difficult for state Attorney General Paula Dow to defend. The law is the law, and she has sworn to uphold it. Yet Dow was once a highly respected prosecutor at the federal level, where the standards in these incidents are different.
For one, thing, federal statutes demand evidence that the money holder committed, or is connected, to a crime, be it drug running or prostitution, or to disguise the source, possibly to avoid tax-reporting purposes.
Not so at the state level in New Jersey.
Under state law, if a “reasonable person” would infer that the dough “derived from criminal activity,” it is automatically considered contraband. And so is whatever boat, plane or automobile it was found in.
The statute says the carrier must produce “documentation or other indicia of legitimate origin or right to such property.” Loosely translated: You need a permit to carry currency in our state, legit or not.
Some years back, a scare arose that trick-or-treating children might become poisoned after a man bought tens of thousands of dollars worth of candy at Costco stores in Hackensack and Wayne. A manhunt ensued and he eventually was found and taken into custody. Federal authorities released him soon after — along with his candy, which they said he’d planned to sell at flea markets in the state.
According to a story in the New Jersey Law Journal, attorney Glenn Cavanagh assigned two interns to research money-laundering laws throughout the country — and couldn’t find a single state that shared New Jersey’s sole dependence on “inference.”
Cavanaugh and fellow lawyer Jon-Henry Barr contend the New Jersey law violates five constitutional amendments, and that their clients should get their cash and truck back — and more. They’re seeking compensatory and punitive damages, interests, costs and fees totaling more than $1 million.
To this point, state law enforcement authorities haven’t commented publicly. Yet in court papers, they say both Amaya and Mejia failed to prove they got the money legitimately.
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