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Beauchamp v. State of Ga.

Defendant used his forfeited Isuzu Trooper to transport bottles of methadone.

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Clifford D. Beauchamp was stopped for speeding, and numerous bottles of methadone—both filled and empty with residue—were found on Beauchamp’s person and in the interior of his 2000 Isuzu Trooper. The Superior Court of Jackson County granted the State’s subsequent petition for forfeiture as to the Trooper, finding “that the Isuzu Trooper was used to facilitate a violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act.” While admitting that “the evidence presented at trial clearly established that Appellant possessed controlled substances in violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act,” Beauchamp appeals from the order of forfeiture, claiming that the evidence did not support the trial court’s finding that the Isuzu Trooper was used to facilitate his possession of methadone. We disagree.

A forfeiture action is a civil proceeding. The State, as plaintiff, was required to prove its case by a preponderance of the evidence rather than by the higher burden of proof applicable to criminal cases. The trial court in this case sat as the factfinder, and we will not disturb its findings unless they were clearly erroneous. And a trial court’s findings of fact are not clearly erroneous if there is any evidence to support them.1

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