John Oliver Breaks Down Civil Forfeiture 'Law And Order' Style On 'Last Week Tonight'

If you're fluent in legalese, you know the law can be full of strange loopholes and nuances open to some seriously arcane interpretation -- which is the main reason, we suppose, why our best and brightest become lawyers. On HBO's "Last Week Tonight," host John Oliver dissected a little-known legal process called "civil asset forfeiture" and brought in Jeff Goldblum to help explain.

Civil asset forfeiture is the mechanism through which "federal and state law enforcement agents seize millions of dollars from civilians during traffic stops, simply by asserting that they believe the money is connected to some illegal activity and without ever pursuing criminal charges," explained the American Civil Liberties Union. In other words, these agencies can even keep the seized assets, be it money or property, even if no crime has been committed.

In a recent case, William "Bart" Davis and John Newmerzhycky, two professional gamblers, were stopped by Iowa State Police, who seized more than $100,000, notes the Washington Post, citing a report in the Des Moines Register. The police were apparently told to be on the lookout for a red vehicle, and the professional poker players just happened to be driving a rented red Nissan Altima and were pulled over after they failed to signal while passing another vehicle.

The traffic stop was contested by the duo -- the Des Moines Register obtained the dashboard footage -- but a drug dog led officers to a grinder and marijuana. The discovery led to a misdemeanor charge for Newmerzhycky and felony charges for the pair in California after a search of their homes. All the charges have been dropped, and while the men had $90,000 returned to them, they still had to pay for a lawyer and deal with legal charges for a year.

For Davis and Newmerzhycky, all of that grief came from a simple, and mistaken, traffic stop.

And that's why civil forfeiture can be quite frustrating and scary. Oliver illuminated that since 2001 $2.5 billion has been seized in some 62,000 cases where no criminal charges were filed. It would appear here that the notion of "innocent until proven guilty" is actually reversed and the individual who owns the property must prove it is innocent of any crime, as charges can be filed against property and not the individual. There are benefits to civil forfeiture, including the seizing of goods used in drug trafficking, but the police can still keep most of the money. Oliver questions the motives behind their actions.

To further break down the absurdity of civil forfeiture, Oliver created his own episode of "Law and Order," called "Law and Order: Civil Asset Forfeiture Unit," featuring actor Jeff Goldblum.