Haina v. Commonwealth

This is an appeal from an order forfeiting a motor vehicle to the Commonwealth pursuant to Code § 18.2-249. It raises questions concerning the sufficiency of the evidence and the effect of the Commonwealth’s failure to file an information within 60 days of notice of seizure, as required by Code § 4-56.

In the spring of 1984, officers of the Virginia State Police maintained surveillance of a waterfront property in Lancaster County known as Kendall Hall, suspecting that a drug-smuggling operation was planned there. On May 4, 1984, a motor vessel named “Daddy Warbucks” docked at Kendall Hall.…