The Best Defense Your Money Can't Buy -- How prosecutors disarm defendants by freezing their assets

From Jacob Sollum at Reason.com:

Today the Supreme Court is considering whether the Kaleys have a constitutional right to challenge the order blocking access to their money before it's too late for them to mount an effective defense. A ruling in their favor would help limit the government's ability to deprive people of their liberty by depriving them of their property.

For people facing criminal charges, freedom not only is not free; it is dauntingly expensive. The Kaleys' lawyers estimate that a trial will cost $500,000 in legal fees and other expenses. The Kaleys had planned to cover the cost with money drawn from a home equity line of credit—until the government took it.

Technically, the government has not taken the money yet; it has merely "restrained" it, along with the rest of the home's value, in anticipation of a post-conviction forfeiture.

Considering how prosecutors, both Federal and State, have been behaving, only only exposed in the Duke Lacrosse, George Zimmerman, and James Rosen cases, this behavior comes as no surprise.

Since Prosecutors have been given immunity, by the courts, maybe it's about time they have some skin in the game. Law Professor Glen Reynold's, of Instapundit fame, has a few suggestions.