proceeds of a crime, substituted proceeds of a crime or instrumentality of a crime seized incident to an arrest for a misdemeanor crime or petty offense or upon a conviction for such misdemeanor crime or petty offense against any person having an interest in such property.
Like New York County, Nassau County also utilizes a currently existing Code section concerning the disposition of property held by the property clerk as authority for and enforcement of the DWI vehicle forfeiture. Among all three counties examined here -- New York, Nassau and Suffolk (Suffolk County has adopted separate, offense-specific legislation) -- the rationale for application of vehicle forfeiture to DWI is that since a vehicle is a necessary element of a "Driving While Intoxicated" charge, it is thus an "instrumentality of a crime," and is therefore governed by local law dealing with property disposition held by the property clerk of the local police department.
"Instrumentality of a crime" means any property, other than real property and any buildings, fixtures, appurtenances, and improvements thereon, whose use contributes directly and materially to the commission of any offense."
Unlike New York County, Nassau County automatically returns the seized property "if a person charged with a misdemeanor crime or petty offense is not convicted or does not plead guilty." While the remainder of the law concerns itself with disposition of both the property itself and the proceeds from said property upon the conclusion of civil action seeking forfeiture, one other feature of the law is notable.
As referenced above in the citation concerning the seizure feature of Nassau County's law being activated "incident to an arrest" (which necessarily implies the law's application to first-time offenders), the law sweeps broadly in at least one other respect. Not only is the law applicable against the property (i.e., vehicle) of the person arrested for DWI, but N...