INDIANAPOLIS – A Marion man whose Land Rover was seized after his arrest for selling $400 in heroin will get to keep the vehicle, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The court’s 4-1 ruling in favor of Tyson Timbs comes following a legal fight that began when the vehicle was seized after his arrest in 2013. The case resulted in a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause applies to states as well as the federal government.
The state’s high court rejected arguments from the Indiana Attorney General’s Office that seizing the Land Rover was justified because it was used to commit a crime and that the Land Rover’s value wasn’t “extraordinarily high” when compared with the tens of thousands of dollars Timbs had spent on his heroin addiction.
“We conclude that, under the totality of the circumstances, the harshness of the Land Rover’s forfeiture was grossly disproportionate to the gravity of the underlying dealing offense and his culpability for the vehicle’s corresponding criminal use,” Chief Justice Loretta Rush wrote in the majority opinion.
Timbs purchased the Land Rover for about $41,000 with some of the $73,000 in life insurance money he received following his father’s death. Timbs spent most of the remaining money on his opioid addiction and, needing a way to make cash, turned to drug dealing. He sold just four grams of heroin to undercover officers in May 2013.
Timbs was charged with dealing a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit theft. He pleaded guilty to the charges in 2015 and was given a year on house arrest.
The state court’s ruling upheld a county judge’s 2020 decision that returned the Land Rover to Timbs. His attorney argued that not having a vehicle made it difficult for Timbs to find work and get to drug treatment programs.
Timbs was represented by the public interest law firm Institute for Justice.
