Pacheco v. United States

This appeal requires us to determine the extent of the governments interest in real property forfeited to it by a criminal defendant. In particular, our question is whether, with respect to real property, the use of the term "property" in the criminal forfeiture statute, 21 U.S.C. § 853, refers to a parcel of land or to the defendants interest in that land, where the two are not the same. Because we conclude that a criminal defendant can only be made to forfeit what was his in the first place, we adopt the latter interpretation.