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Oklahoma Case Study

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Oklahoma is set to return the US$53,000 that cops seized from the volunteer manager of Burmese Christian band Klo and Kweh Music Team who was raising money for an orphanage, a church, and a school in his homeland Burma.
On Monday, former Burmese refugee Eh Wah appeared in court to face the accusations of trafficking drug money. Wah manages a Christian band touring in the U.S. and is raising cash for charity when Oklahoma police stopped him on Highway 69 because of a broken taillight, according to News Channel 4.
When Oklahoma deputies pulled him over in February, they searched his car and found the US$53,000 he had raised for charity. They seized all the money and charged Wah with a drug felony despite the absence of drugs or paraphernalia in his possession, The Washington Post reports.
The Oklahoma deputies seized the
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Kyle Loveless said of the law. “Well, I don’t think any government agency should be able to supplement their budget by taking innocent people’s stuff. That’s just not the system we have.”
In a strange turn of events, District Attorney Orvil Loge told News Channel 4 that he is dropping the charges against Wah. In addition, he is giving the Christian band manager a US$53,000 check to spend for the charities he was raising cash for.
In an interview, Loge explained that they had determined that they would not be able to present the burden of proof needed in the case. He also mentioned that a lot of citizens have been upset and have complained to his office about the incident.
For Atty. Dan Alban, the Institute for Justice lawyer who represents Wah and the owners of the money, the prosecutor should have determined first whether the burden of proof can be met before the charges were filed. He added that the charges would not have been dropped if not for the press coverage and if his client did not have access to pro bono
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