On a bright, clear morning in April 2013, two professional poker players from California were heading west on Interstate 80 in rural Iowa when they were stopped by two Iowa State Troopers.
Before that stop was over, the officers had seized $100,000, which the men said was money to play poker. The troopers also called ahead to California authorities, who raided the men's homes and ultimately indicted one of them, John Newmerzhycky, on a charge of illegal possession of drug paraphernalia.
If this sounds unusual and way out of the ordinary, it isn't. The seizure is just one of thousands of highway stops that state and local authorities call "interdictions:" Roadside stops aimed at catching drug dealers or even terrorists, but which can also result in cash seizures alone with no criminal charges attached.
It's called Civil Asset Forfeiture, and it was started in the early 1980s by the Justice Department. It has since migrated to thousands of state and local jurisdictions nationwide. The program, when it originated, was meant to target and take money authorities believed was connected to crimes.
A legal advocacy group based in Washington called the Institute for Justice has been battling Civil Asset Forfeiture for years.
"It violates due process for Americans," said Larry Salzman, an attorney for the group. "It's wrong. It's a simple premise that the government should not be taking money from people who have done nothing wrong. It shouldn't be taking money from people who have not been charged, let alone convicted, of any crime."
In the case of the two poker players in Iowa, months after their money was taken, they reached a settlement in which most of the money $90,000 was returned. They told CNN they believed it was the best deal they could have made at the time. Now, however, they are suing to get the rest of the money back and have asked for unspecified damages. The state of Iowa isn't giving it back and is not backing down.
"It has had widespread and deep impacts on my life," said William "Bart" Davis, one of the two poker players. "It's my primary focus right now. It's made me aware of the things I was unaware of. And made me angry."
