Twenty Thousand Eight Hundred Dollars ($20,800.00) in U.S. Currency v. State ex rel. Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics

FAIR, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. The Mississippi Highway Patrol seized $20,800 in cash found in a traffic stop. After a hearing, the trial court ordered the funds forfeited to the State. We find that the claimants waived the issue of whether there was reasonable suspicion for the investigatory stop. We also find that the claimants failed to rebut the presumption that the funds, found “in close proximity” to marijuana and drug-distributing paraphernalia, were forfeitable. We therefore affirm the trial court’s judgment.

FACTS

¶ 2. On October 2, 2009, Highway Patrol Trooper Harris Bryan pulled over a…