Lawsuit seeks dead man’s cash, car

SUNNYSIDE, Wash. – A Tri-Cities woman has sued to recover nearly $58,000 and a car seized by police after a drug deal shootout that killed her son’s father.

The city of Sunnyside seized $57,990 and a BMW after the 2005 shootout at the Parkland Homes trailer court that left Jesus Jaime Torres and another man dead. The city contends the money belongs to taxpayers under drug forfeiture statutes intended to punish drug dealers.

On Wednesday, a lawyer representing Torres’ and Lorena Contreras’s 2-year-old son went before a Yakima County judge to ask for the money and the car.

Attorney Todd Harms argued the money, found after Torres was killed, belongs to the baby under “innocent owner” exceptions to forfeiture law.

Harms argued that forfeiture laws are intended to punish drug dealers by denying them the profits of their wrongdoing. Because Torres is dead, that’s not an issue, so the seized assets should go to his heir, Harms contended.

Under long-standing safeguards in forfeiture cases, “innocent owners” are people whose property, such as a car driven by a relative, get caught up in a drug deal.

Yakima County Superior Court Judge James Gavin said he would rule later.