THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

The other day some Okie deputies from Muskogee County stopped a Burmese immigrant working with a Christian-Burmese band to raise money for a Karen school back in Burma, for a broken taillight. A semi-legal dog inspired drug search turned up $53,000 raised by the band, the deputies seized the money and charged Eh Wah with drug crimes despite not drugs or incriminating paraphenalia being found. The DA then eagerly sought to steal the money under the cover of a civil forfeiture. The the story went public.

On Monday, I wrote about a strange civil forfeiture case out of Oklahoma, in which Muskogee County sheriff's deputies seized over $53,000 in cash from a Burmese Christian rock band, a church in Omaha and an orphanage in Thailand following a traffic stop over a busted tail light.

After the story was published, Muskogee County District Attorney Orvil Loge decided to dismiss both the civil case (the cash seizure) and a criminal charge of "acquir[ing] proceeds from drug activity" against the principal defendant, Eh Wah, after reviewing the evidence and speaking with the officers involved.

"I looked at the case and met with the officers and determined that we would not be able to meet the burden of proof in the criminal case and in the civil case," Loge said in an interview. He also cited the press coverage of the story and said that his office has heard from "a lot of citizens" who were upset about the details of the case.

Eh Wah was acting as the volunteer tour manager for the Klo and Kweh Music Team, a group from Burma. They were touring the United States to raise money for a Christian liberal arts school in Burma and an orphanage in Thailand. They collected their concert proceeds in cash, which they entrusted to Eh Wah to manage and safeguard.

Eh Wah was pulled over for a broken tail light in February by Muskogee County sheriff's deputies, who said a drug-sniffing dog alerted on the car. When the deputies searched the car, they found all $53,000 that the band had raised. They didn't like Eh Wah's explanation for why he had it, citing inconsistencies in his responses to police questions. So they seized the cash and eventually charged him with a drug felony, even though they found no drugs or paraphernalia in the car or in his possession.

In an interview, Loge, the district attorney, said the officers had enough probable cause to take the cash.

"In this case, the question was did they have probable cause to act? And in my opinion they did," he said. But he added, "Once you file cases and facts come to light, things change. That's the way our justice system is designed, and you have to let the wheel of justice turn and act — and that's what we did."

Yes, it is amazing how facts change when you shine a light on what is happening. No one as yet is calling DA Loge and the deputies a bunch of thieving bastards. Perhaps that is because no one yet has looked at how many civil forfeitures he has done.