Freddy Lee Jones v. Michael Greene, Commissioner Tennessee Department of Safety

This appeal involves over $45,000 seized during the search of a house in Memphis for illegal drugs. After the Commissioner of Safety ordered the forfeiture of the money, the person claiming the funds filed a petition for review in the Chancery Court for Davidson County asserting that the forfeiture statutes deprived him of his constitutional right to a jury trial and violated the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the United States and Tennessee Constitutions. The trial court upheld the forfeiture statutes and the forfeiture, and this appeal followed. We have determined that Tennessee’s forfeiture statutes are constitutional and that the record contains substantial and material evidence supporting the commissioner’s forfeiture order. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.