United States v. Maria Ferro

These cross-appeals arise from what we understand to be the largest civil in rem forfeiture proceeding against firearms unlawfully possessed by a convicted felon in American history. In dispute is a forfeiture order against hundreds of collectable guns valued at $2.55 million. After a bench trial, the district court ruled the entire collection forfeitable, but it later ordered that the government return 10% of the value of the collection, $255,000, to Claimant-Appellant Maria Ferro on the ground that a forfeiture so large violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on the imposition of an excessive fine. The government and the claimant both appealed. The government wants to pay back nothing. Maria Ferro wants the government to pay back much more.

This opinion addresses several issues. First, we hold that Maria Ferro is not entitled to the protections of the so-called “innocent owner” defense, and the district court was therefore correct to hold that the entire collection was subject to forfeiture. Second, we hold that, following a comprehensive revision to the forfeiture statutes in 2000, forfeitures of instrumen-talities of crimes are subject to excessiveness analysis…