LD 1544
pg. 2
Page 1 of 2 An Act to Establish a Lottery Game to Improve Purses for Maine Harness Racing a... LD 1544 Title Page
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LR 1312
Item 1

 
D. For payment to the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund pursuant
to Title 12, section 7782.; and

 
E.__For payment to the Harness Racing Purse Fund pursuant to
section 296.

 
Sec. 4. 17-A MRSA §952, sub-§5-A is enacted to read:

 
5-A.__"Illegal gambling machine" means any machine, including
electronic devices, however operated:

 
A.__The internal mechanism or components of which when set
in motion or activated may deliver or entitle the person
playing or operating the machine to receive cash, premiums,
merchandise, tickets or something of value;

 
B.__That is used to advance gambling activity; and

 
C.__That is not a machine that a person may lawfully operate
pursuant to a license that has been issued under Title 17,
chapter 14.

 
Sec. 5. 17-A MRSA §§959 to 961 are enacted to read:

 
§959.__Illegal gambling machines; forfeiture

 
1.__An illegal gambling machine, including any monetary
contents, is subject to forfeiture to the State.

 
2.__An illegal gambling machine and any monetary contents may
be declared forfeited under this section by any court that has
jurisdiction over the illegal gambling machine or final
jurisdiction over any related criminal proceeding brought under
this chapter or by the Superior Court for Kennebec County.__
Property subject to forfeiture may be kept or stored at any
location within the territorial boundaries of the State and is
subject to the authority of any court in which a petition seeking
the forfeiture of that property is filed.

 
3.__Forfeitures under this section must be accomplished by the
following procedure.

 
A.__A district attorney or the Attorney General may petition
the Superior Court in the name of the State in the nature of
a proceeding in rem to order forfeiture of an illegal
gambling machine and any monetary contents.__The petition
must be filed in the court having jurisdiction over the
property.

 
B.__The proceeding under paragraph A is an in rem civil
action, in which the State has the burden of proving all
material facts by a preponderance of the evidence.

 
C.__A court shall order the State to give notice of the
pendency of the action and the right to be heard by
certified or registered mail or through hand delivery by a
deputy sheriff to any person who appears to have an interest
in the illegal gambling machine and any monetary contents.__
Receipt by a person then licensed to operate a motor vehicle
in the State is presumed when notice is mailed to the last
known address of that person on file with the Department of
the Secretary of State, Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

 
D.__A court shall promptly, but not less than 2 weeks after
notice, hold a hearing on the petition after an answer is
filed by a person served with notice under paragraph C.__

 
At the hearing, the court shall hear evidence and make
findings of fact and enter conclusions of law.

 
E.__Based on the findings and conclusions, the court shall
issue a final order, from which the parties have a right of
appeal.__The final order must provide for disposition of the
illegal gambling machine and any monetary contents by the
State.__Any revenue generated by the disposition of the
illegal gambling machine and any monetary contents of the
machine must be used to pay the reasonable expenses of the
forfeiture proceedings, seizure, storage, maintenance of
custody, advertising and notice.__The balance, if any, must
be deposited in the General Fund.

 
4.__Any law enforcement officer, department or agency having
custody of an illegal gambling machine or any monetary contents
of an illegal gambling machine or having disposed of the illegal
gambling machine or any monetary contents shall keep and maintain
during the pendency of the action full and complete records in
accordance with this subsection.__Upon issuance by the court of a
final order ordering the disposition, destruction or return of
the illegal gambling machine or the monetary contents, the
officer, department or agency must transmit a copy of those
records to the Department of Public Safety for inclusion into a
centralized record.

 
A.__The records must show:

 
(1)__From whom the illegal gambling machine and any
monetary contents were received;

 
(2)__Under what authority the illegal gambling machine
and any monetary contents are held, received or
disposed of;

 
(3)__To whom the illegal gambling machine and any
monetary contents are delivered;

 
(4)__The date and manner of destruction or disposition
of the illegal gambling machine; and

 
(5)__The exact kinds, quantities and forms of illegal
gambling machines and the exact amount of any monetary
contents of any machine held in custody or disposed of.

 
B.__The records must be open to inspections by all federal
and state officers authorized by the laws of the United
States, a state or territory of the United States or a
foreign nation to investigate or prosecute gambling laws.

 
C.__The Department of Public Safety is responsible for
maintaining a centralized record of illegal gambling
machines seized.__At least quarterly, the department shall
provide a report of the disposition of property previously
held by the department to the Commissioner of Administrative
and Financial Services and the legislative Office of Fiscal
and Program Review for review.__These records must include
an estimate of the fair market value of items seized.

 
5.__Persons making final disposition or destruction of an
illegal gambling machine or its monetary contents under court
order shall report, under oath, to the court the exact
circumstances of the destruction or disposition.

 
6.__An illegal gambling machine together with any monetary
contents is contraband and may be seized by any law enforcement
officer pursuant to subsection 7 or 8.

 
7.__At the request of the State ex parte, a court may issue
any preliminary order or process necessary to seize or secure the
property for which forfeiture is sought and provide for its
custody.

 
A.__Process for seizure of the property for which forfeiture
is sought under this section may issue only upon a showing
of probable cause.__The application for process for seizure
of the property and the issuance, execution and return of
the process are subject to the provisions of applicable
state law.

 
B.__Any property subject to forfeiture under this section
may be seized upon process.

 
8.__Seizure of property forfeited under this section without
process may be made when seizure is incident to a legal search or
inspection if a law enforcement officer has probable cause to
believe the property seized is an illegal gambling machine.

 
§960.__Criminal forfeiture

 
1.__A person convicted of a violation of this chapter forfeits
to the State all rights, privileges, interests and claims to
property that is subject to forfeiture pursuant to section 959.__
All rights, privileges, interest and title in property subject to
forfeiture under this section vest in the State upon the
commission of the act giving rise to forfeiture pursuant to
section 959.

 
2.__Property subject to forfeiture that is not yet the subject
of a final order pursuant to section 959 may be proceeded against
by indictment or superseding indictment of a grand jury in any
related criminal proceeding in which one or more persons with an
interest in the property have been simultaneously indicted for
one or more violations of this chapter.__At any time prior to
trial, the State, with the consent of the court and any defendant
with an interest in the property, may file an ancillary charging
instrument or information alleging that that property is subject
to criminal forfeiture.__Upon commencement of a criminal
forfeiture by indictment or information of any property that may
be the subject of any pending civil action commenced pursuant to
section 959, the civil action must be immediately stayed and
subrogated to the criminal forfeiture action.__Discovery in the
criminal action must be as provided by the Maine Rules of
Criminal Procedure.

 
3.__Property subject to forfeiture that has not already been
seized but has been indicted by a grand jury pursuant to this
section may also be ordered seized based upon the grand jury's
finding of probable cause pursuant to section 959.

 
4.__Trial against property charged by indictment or
information may be by jury and must be held in a single
proceeding together with the trial of the related criminal
violation.__Forfeiture of the property must be proved by the
State by a preponderance of the evidence.__The court, in its
discretion, may allow any defendant with an interest in property
indicted pursuant to this section to waive the right to trial by
jury as against the property while preserving the right to trial
by jury of any crime alleged.__At trial by jury, the court, upon
motion of a defendant or the State, may separate the trial of the
matter against the defendant from the trial of the matter against
the property subject to criminal forfeiture.__If the court
bifurcates the jury trial, the court shall first instruct and
submit to the jury the issue of the guilt or innocence of
defendants to be determined by proof beyond a reasonable doubt
and shall restrict argument of counsel to those issues.__After a
verdict upon the guilt or innocence of all defendants, the court
shall instruct and submit to the jury the issue of the forfeiture
of the property to be determined by proof by a preponderance of
the evidence and the court shall restrict argument to those
issues.__A special verdict must be returned as to the extent of
the interest in property subject to forfeiture, if any.

 
5.__A person not charged in an indictment under this section
may not intervene in the criminal action.__Following the entry of
a verdict of forfeiture of property pursuant to this section or
the entry of a guilty plea in open court on the record, the State
shall provide written notice of its intent to dispose of the
property to any person known to have alleged an interest in the
property.__The notice may be by certified, return receipt mail or
as otherwise ordered by the court.__Receipt by a person then
licensed to operate a motor vehicle in the State is presumed when
notice is mailed to the last known address of that person on file
with the Department of the Secretary of State, Bureau of Motor
Vehicles.__A person other than the defendant asserting a legal
interest in the property within 30 days of the date of receipt of
the notice may petition the court for a hearing to adjudicate the
validity of any alleged interest in the property.__The hearing
must be held before the court without jury.__The request for the
hearing must be signed by the petitioner under penalty of perjury
and must state the nature and extent of the petitioner's right,
title or interest in the property, the time and circumstances of
the petitioner's acquisition of the right, title or interest in
the property, any additional facts supporting the petitioner's
claim and the relief sought.__Upon the filing of any petition for
hearing, the court shall schedule the hearing as soon as
practicable, but in no event later than 6 months after the
petition is filed or after the sentencing of any defendant
convicted upon the same indictment.__The court shall issue or
amend a final order of forfeiture in accordance with its
determination if, after the hearing, the court determines that
the petitioner has established by a preponderance of the evidence
that:

 
A.__The petitioner has a legal right, title or interest in
the property and the right, title or interest renders the
order of forfeiture invalid in whole or in part because the
right, title or interest was vested in the petitioner rather
than any defendant or was superior to any right, title or
interest to the exclusion of any defendant at the time of
the commission of the acts that gave rise to the forfeiture
of the property under this section; and

 
B.__The petitioner is a bona fide purchaser for value of the
right, title or interest in the property and was at the time
of purchase reasonably without cause to believe that the
property was subject to forfeiture under this section.

 
6.__Following the entry of a verdict of forfeiture of property
pursuant to this section or the entry of a guilty plea in open
court on the record, the State has clear title to property that
is the subject of the indictment or information and order of
forfeiture and may order all or a portion of the property
forfeited to the State to be disposed of pursuant to section 959.

 
§961.__Construction

 
Sections 959 and 960__must be liberally construed to
effectuate their remedial purposes.

 
SUMMARY

 
This bill establishes a harness racing lottery game and
Harness Racing Purse Fund to improve harness racing purses. This
bill also defines illegal gambling machines and provides that
illegal gambling machines and their monetary contents are subject
to seizure and forfeiture in both civil and criminal proceedings.
Seizure may be pursuant to court process or without process if
the seizure is incident to a search that is in conformity with
constitutional requirements governing searches and seizures.


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