Today, the Texas First Court of Appeals reversed a Harris County civil-forfeiture judgment entered after a six-day jury trial and rendered judgment for Institute for Justice (IJ) clients Ameal Woods and Jordan Davis, ordering the state to return their $41,680. The court held that Harris County’s evidence was legally insufficient to prove the cash was intended to be used to purchase a controlled substance—confirming that private property, including cash, cannot be taken on mere suspicion.  

“Cash is not a crime,” said Arif Panju, managing attorney of the Institute for Justice’s Texas office. “Today the First Court of Appeals entered judgment for Ameal and Jordan and ordered their life savings returned. That’s a decisive win for due process and a sharp rebuke to civil forfeiture based on hunches.”

The case started in 2019, when Ameal and Jordan decided to pursue the dream of owning their own trucking business. They saved money from jobs, tax refunds, and by keeping expenses low—eventually accumulating more than $40,000, enough for Ameal to rise from truck driver to truck owner. On May 14, 2019, after weeks of scouring ads for used tractor-trailers, Ameal was ready to buy one of his own. He drove from Natchez, Mississippi, and headed towards Houston. But when he arrived in Harris County, police pulled Ameal over, took his cash, and sent him on his way without so much as a warning.

Although the government’s forfeiture case involved no drugs or drug dealers whatsoever, and Ameal was never charged with any crime, the county nevertheless pursued civil forfeiture. After a six-day trial, a jury found the money was intended to be used to possess a controlled substance at some point in the future; the trial court entered judgment for forfeiture.  

Today, the First Court of Appeals concluded the state’s evidence fell short of meeting its burden of establishing the required substantial connection between the money and some drug offense and therefore could not support forfeiture. The court reversed and rendered judgment in favor of Ameal and Jordan, ordering the state to return the money and remanding for proceedings consistent with the opinion.  

“This ruling makes clear that the government can’t take people’s property without evidence of a crime,” said James Knight, attorney at the Institute for Justice. “Ameal and Jordan fought back, and today’s decision restores what was theirs and strengthens protections for everyone who carries cash.”

In addition to today’s reversal of the forfeiture case against Ameal and Jordan’s life savings – a class action lawsuit challenging Harris County’s unconstitutional civil forfeiture practices remains pending in the First Court of Appeals in Houston. The DA and County have argued that its use of civil forfeiture is not reviewable under the Texas Constitution. 

This is a huge victory not only for Ameal Woods and Jordan Davis, but also for IJ’s decades-long effort to end civil forfeiture—the practice of seizing and keeping Americans’ property without charging them with a crime. IJ’s work in Harris County and across the country aims to ensure that property rights and due process don’t depend on speculation.