Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 25, 1990 TAG: 9006250122
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Federal marshals had been poised to begin raiding apartments in housing projects today in as many as 22 cities where the holder of the lease is a suspected drug dealer who faces possible prosecution for at least two felonies.
However, in a ruling issued late Friday, U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams ordered the federal government to give tenants "proper notice and an opportunity to be heard in court" before seizing their leases.
His initial order, earlier in the week, had applied only to the Richmond, Va., area.
The judge's expanded order left the plan in limbo.
Under the program first announced last month by Housing Secretary Jack Kemp, the tenant and his or her family could be kicked out of the apartment even if the person has not yet been convicted of a drug crime.
The forfeiture of public-housing leases by such accused drug dealers is specifically authorized by asset-forfeiture provisions of the 1988 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, government officials say. The same provisions enable federal prosecutors to seize boats, cars and cash of drug dealers awaiting trial.
In this case, the lease is the asset to be seized.
Public housing projects in the following cities have been targeted: Washington; Atlanta; Dallas; Baltimore; Hartford, Conn.; Newark, N.J.; Indianapolis; Flint, Mich.; Charleston, S.C.; Macon, Ga.; El Paso, Texas; Kansas City; Omaha; Portland, Ore.; St. Louis; New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Chandler, Ariz.; Tacoma, Wash.; and Frederick, Md.
by CNB