Feds Try to Seize Gold From Suspects' Teeth

[rsmith6621]

TACOMA, Wash. - Talk about taking a bite out of crime.

Government lawyers tried to confiscate the gold tooth caps known as "grills" from the mouths of two men facing drug charges, saying the dental work qualified as seizable assets. They had them in a vehicle headed to a dental clinic by the time defense attorneys persuaded a judge to halt the procedure.

"I've been doing this for over 30 years and I have never heard of anything like this," said Richard J. Troberman, a past president of the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "It sounds like Nazi Germany when they were removing the gold teeth from the bodies, but at least then they waited until they were dead."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060407/ap_on_re_us/gold_capped_teeth

[Imagine My Surprise]

1. A tad ironic coming on the heels of Bush calling Iran's leader "Hitler"

...as cited, at least Hitler waited until they were dead.

[Bucky]

17. Hitler didn't exactly "wait until they were dead." He killed them.

Vultures wait until they're dead. I hope you can see the difference.

[MrModerate]

2. Really, really stupid . . .

However, the eager beaver who pursued this thought that "grills" snapped out like retainers and did not anticipate surgery to confiscate the asset.

There is a shade of difference.

[formercia]

3. Good line.

With Gold pushing $600 an ounce, they must have been successful Capitalists.

Remember, drug dealing is not only for the plutocrats....

[boobooday]

4. This is totally creepy

Why don't they just take their kidneys too? People will pay for them, so I guess they could also be considered an 'asset.'

[CrispyQ]

5. How much more activity "like Nazi Germany"

do we endure before people finally see the similarities between the two regimes?

[dogday]

6. Next thing you know they will be taking prisoner's

organs from them to give to the deserving Rich people... Rotten stinkin corruption

[Horse with no Name]

7. How do you know they don't already do that?

:scared:;)
They must have got a black-hearted murderers heart for Cheney...Oh wait...that is HIS own heart?
Ooops.:)

[formercia]

8. If cheney was given a human heart

it would probably reject his body....

[CoffeeCat]

9. Look at what the government did to this guy!

I always found this compelling and a bit creepy.

Death-row convicts lose the right to decide what happens to their bodies after they die.

After this Texas death-row inmate was executed, our government sliced him--from head to toe--into 1 mm sections. CT scans were taken of the slices. Various companies and government organizations have used the data for research, education and also to make CD-ROMS, animations, etc.

A lot of good has come from this project--but what happened to this guy is pretty dastardly.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/frozen_ct.html

[Ian David]

13. I thought I read that the guy volunteered for that project. n/t

[CoffeeCat]

14. From my understanding...

...he didn't volunteer.

He had no idea that this would happen to him.

I'm fairly certain about this.

[tammywammy]

15. It says on the NLM website that he donated his body to science

Donating your body to science doesn't guarantee that you'll be used for any specific thing (i.e. medical school cadaver).

Read the book Stiff for a more detailed look on different ways bodies donated are used.


edited to add:

Jernigan had willed his body to the Texas anatomy board but almost certainly did not know that he was a candidate for the Visible Human Project at the time of his death, Spitzer said recently.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/horizon/jan99/corpse.htm

[CoffeeCat]

21. and also, it's my understanding---

...that death-row inmates lose the freedom to decide what happens to their body after they die.

The article that Tammywammy posted indicates that he did "will his body to the Texas anatomy board." Maybe he made his wishes known and Texas officials obliged.

It's fascinating that he never knew what would happen to his body--frozen and sliced into more than 1800 sections. He's been used in hundreds of educational, research and medical projects.

Wow, we've immortalized a murderer in CD-ROMs that high-schoolers use to study anatomy!

[in_cog_ni_to]

10. OMG...that was my first thought...Nazi Germany.

Good g-d. What have we become?:scared:

[No Exit]

11. Welcome to BushAmerica. How long b/f creditors can do this to debtors?

[Cobalt Violet]

12. "they mistakenly thought the grills were removable."

"Asset forfeiture is a fairly routine procedure, and our attorneys were under the impression that these snapped out like a retainer," said Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Seattle.

[tammywammy]

16. Huh

I never would have thought of removable covers or "grills" for my teeth. :shrug:

[Bucky]

20. It's stilll a PR disaster.

Jeezus. Removing people's dental implants. I don't think it takes an exceptionally bright person to realize that if you have to take them to the dentist, you're courting disaster and begging for an 8th Amendment smack down.

[Generic Other]

18. The government lawyers thought the caps were removeable

On the news the guy had a whole handful of the things. I had never seen them before. Really fancy with diamonds and dollar signs, etc. I never see anyone like this in town!! At least not with a whole grill!!

[Neil Lisst]

19. This willl probably be SOP by the time Bush leaves office

There is absolutely no reason the gold could not be confiscated upon conviction and imprisonment, and a number of rationales would suffice.


1. Restitution to victims
2. Fines imposed by court
3. Court costs for the trial
4. Victims' fund by state
5. Problems in prison because of value and risks