United States v. Real Property Known as 22249 Dolorosa Street

James Hopkins (“Hopkins”), Gloria Lowndes, and Gary Lowndes (Hopkins’ mother and step-father, “the Lowndeses”) appeal a judgment forfeiting real property situated at 22249 Dolorosa Street, Woodland Hills, California, pursuant to 21 U.S.C, § 881(a)(6) (1994). We hold that a claimant in a civil forfeiture proceeding who withdraws his claim after an adverse probable cause determination retains standing to appeal, and that in relying on evidence it had suppressed, the district court erred in finding probable cause. 1 Accordingly, we reverse.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Officers from the Ventura County Sheriffs Department arrested Hopkins, a suspected drug dealer, as he was driving from his residence at 22249 Dolorosa Street to a public storage facility. They searched the car and in the trunk found a cardboard box, which they labeled and later inventoried in the Sheriffs Department Property Records as “Item No. 23 ... cardboard box cont. mise, pictures, trophies, and papers.” The officers then conducted a warrantless and nonconsen-sual search of Hopkins’s residence where they seized various other documents identified in the Sheriff Department’s property records as Item 29…