People v. Twelve Thousand Six Hundred One Dollars & Thirty-Three Cents In U.S. Currency

Cyrus Cardan, the defendant in the underlying criminal proceedings and the claimant in the forfeiture proceedings at issue, appeals from a postjudgment order awarding him $12,601.33, which represents $10,153.38 seized from Cardan’s hotel room in 2003, plus the interest actually earned on the seized funds while on deposit in an interest-bearing account.

The essential issue presented is whether the trial court erred in failing to award Cardan interest at the legal rate of 7 percent per annum specified in the California Constitution.

With respect to the rate of interest applicable to seized funds returned to a claimant, the controlling provisions in chapter 8 of division 10 of the Health and Safety Code 1 applicable to the “Seizure and Disposition” of property subject to forfeiture requires a seizing agency to preserve the value of seized property (§ 11469, subd. (i)) and, in the case of seized funds, to place the funds in an account subject to audit (§ 11469, subd. (h)).

*124 Given these statutory directives, it follows that, in order to preserve the value of seized funds, the seizing agency must deposit the funds into an interest-bearing account. Further, because the…