civil forfeiture tennessee

[problemsintn]

What is the name of your state? tn

I was convicted of dui, took my punishment, got a restricted driver license and during this time i had a bump in the road and am still dealing with it ,although i now have a valid tn driver license.

So im in a situation where i have a hearing coming up over civil forfeiture of my vehicle for accused driving on revoked drivers license due to a first offense dui or any subsequent offense dui (it doesnt matter)(TCA 55-50-
504, 40-33-201, et seq.)

This is a civil matter, not criminal so as i understand it the burden of proof is on the state. BUT the evidence does not have to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that "the vehicle lol" is guilty -just that the probability is high-preponderance of the evidence.

In other words, whoever has the most evidence wins-if the state plays the game fairly.
thats my assumption, but im not a lawyer so scold me if need be.

The problem with the states case is, the officer himself is the witness that supposedly saw ME driving the car. The officer never stopped the car in question to get a good look, ask for a driver license, registration ...nothing. SO i can bring in every person i was in contact that day with as an eyewitness to what i was doing that day, right? And as a result i would assume thats going to be open and shut ill be getting my car back? ok, im not presuming this because this state never ceases to amaze me with the tricks they pull out of their hat but anyway.

I dont deny my car was out and about the day he says it was but i do deny i was driving the car. However , i am wondering, if this case is to be won by me , what do i have to show and what would be a good idea to do?

The only good evidence i can think of are witnesses- and im wondering if the state will even allow their testimony.

yes im represented by an attorney, yes i still have to ask these questions.
and yes i gave a partial story the first time i posted here, just to see how it would work out and i got my answer.

 

[CavemanLawyer]

You've got a right to present your side of the case also, so yes you can put on any witnesses who have personal relevant knowledge. Just make sure you put on credible witnesses and make sure they tell the truth. If there is any attempt to get everyone to agree on a false or even "better" story than it will all get picked apart. Make sure none of them have any meaningful criminal history either...unless you really need their testimony. If you have any physical evidence that you weren't driving that would help, like if you have a time card from work or something.

But ultimately this case is going to boil down to the most important witness of all...the person driving the car. This is your car right? So if someone else was driving it you should know about it. You should be prepared to have this person come to court and admit that he was the one that drove the vehicle down that street. If that witness doesn't testify than I don't see any reason for the judge/jury to doubt that the officer is telling the truth, and accurate in his observation, so long as he had a reason why he was able to recognize you that day.

 

[problemsintn]

gotcha! A guy i know was thinking about buying the car, it is a sports car and this occured in july so he wanted to test drive it. I personally know the guy so i told him keep it for the day if he wanted to.The officer states in the warrant that he was OFF DUTY so unless he was just sitting by the side of the road for days waiting on my car to come down the road, he had to have been at his house or in his yard (because i later found out he lives on the street he spotted my car on) and just by chance saw my car go by-or maybe he just does not like me? thats not hard to believe!

whats the chances of anyone being able to REALLY positively identify a person from AT THE LEAST 20ft away and through factory tinted windows and be sure about it? come on now! Honestly if this was a common sense court of law i think this case would be laughed out of court- but its not, its americas justice system and i have to be prepared for what could happen.

And thats a lot of things.