Timbs v. Indiana
United States Supreme Court
139 S. Ct. 682 (2019)
- Written by Rose VanHofwegen, JD
Facts
When Tyson Timbs (defendant) was charged with dealing drugs, police seized the $42,000 Land Rover he had recently purchased with life insurance proceeds from his father’s death, claiming it had been used to transport heroin. The trial court refused to order forfeiture of the vehicle to the state on the ground that it would be grossly disproportionate to the maximum $10,000 fine that Timbs’s drug conviction carried. The appellate court affirmed, but the Indiana Supreme Court reversed. Timbs appealed to the United States Supreme Court, arguing that the forfeiture violated the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Ginsburg, J.)
Concurrence (Thomas, J.)
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