18-8616. PERSONAL PROPERTY -- RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES. (1) Within five
(5) days of any of the events specified in section 18-8615, Idaho Code, no-
tice, including a copy of the request for forfeiture, shall be given to each
co-owner or party in interest who has or claims any right, title, or interest
in any such personal property according to one (1) of the following methods:
(a) Upon each co-owner of or party in interest in a titled motor vehi-
cle, aircraft, or other conveyance, by mailing notice by certified mail
to the address of each co-owner and party in interest as documented in
the records of the appropriate department of state or federal govern-
ment where records relating to such conveyances are maintained;
(b) Upon each secured party and assignee designated as such in any UCC-1
financing statement on file in an appropriate filing office covering
any personal property sought to be forfeited, by mailing notice by
certified mail to the secured party and the assignee, if any, at their
respective addresses as shown on such financing statement; or
(c) Upon each co-owner or party in interest whose name and address is
known, by mailing notice by registered mail to the last known address of
such person.
(2) Within twenty (20) days after the mailing of the notice, the
co-owner or party in interest may file a verified answer and claim to the
property described in the notice.
(3) If a verified answer is filed within twenty (20) days after mailing
of the notice, the forfeiture proceeding against all co-owners and parties
in interest who have filed verified answers shall be set for hearing before
the court without a jury on a day not less than sixty (60) days after the mail-
ing of the notice, and the proceeding shall have priority over other civil
cases.
(a) At the hearing, any co-owner or party in interest who has a verified
answer on file may show by competent evidence that his interest in the
titled motor vehicle, aircraft, or other conveyance is not subject to
forfeiture because he could not have known in the exercise of reasonable
diligence that the titled motor vehicle, aircraft, or other conveyance
was being used, had been used, or was intended to be used for the pur-
poses described in section 18-8611, Idaho Code.
(b) A co-owner or claimant of any right, title, or interest in the
property may prove that his right, title, or interest, whether under
a lien, mortgage, security agreement, conditional sales contract, or
otherwise, was created without any knowledge or reason to believe that
the property was being used, had been used, or was intended to be used
for the purpose alleged.
(i) In the event of such proof, the court shall order that por-
tion of the property or interest released to the bona fide or inno-
cent co-owner, purchaser, lienholder, mortgagee, secured party,
or conditional sales vendor.
(ii) If the amount due to such person is less than the value of the
property, the property may be sold at public auction or in another
commercially reasonable method by the attorney general or appro-
priate prosecuting attorney. If sold at public auction, the at-
torney general or appropriate prosecuting attorney shall publish
a notice of the sale in at least one (1) publication in a newspaper
published and circulated in the city, community, or locality where
the sale is to take place at least one (1) week prior to sale of the
property. The proceeds from such sale shall be distributed as fol-
lows in the order indicated:
1. To the bona fide or innocent co-owner, purchaser, con-
ditional sales vendor, lienholder, mortgagee, or secured
party of the property, if any, up to the value of his interest
in the property; and
2. The balance, if any, in the following order:
(A) To the attorney general or appropriate prosecut-
ing attorney for all expenditures made or incurred in
connection with the sale, including expenditure for
any necessary repairs, storage, or transportation of
the property, and for all expenditures made or incurred
by him in connection with the forfeiture proceedings,
including but not limited to expenditures for witness
fees, reporter fees, transcripts, printing, travel,
and investigation;
(B) To the law enforcement agency of this state that
seized the property for all expenditures for travel,
investigation, storage, and other expenses made or
incurred after the seizure and in connection with the
forfeiture of any property seized under the provisions
of this chapter; and
(C) The remainder, if any, to the crime victims com-
pensation account as established in section 72-1009,
Idaho Code.
(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, upon being
satisfied that the interest of a co-owner or claimant should not be subject
to forfeiture because they neither knew nor should have known that the
personal property was being used or had been used for the purposes alleged,
or that due to preexisting security interests in such property there is no
equity that may be forfeited, the attorney general or appropriate prosecut-
ing attorney may release the property to the co-owner, holder of the security
interest, or other claimant.
(5) In any case, the attorney general or appropriate prosecuting attor-
ney may, within thirty (30) days after order of forfeiture, pay the balance
due to the bona fide lienholder, mortgagee, secured party, or conditional
sales vendor and thereby purchase the property for use to enforce this chap-
ter.
[18-8616, added 2024, ch. 147, sec. 37, p. 571.]