“This law makes a criminal out of anyone who has a car with a hidden compartment,” said Glenberg, “regardless of whether that person has engaged in any actual wrongdoing related to carrying drugs or any other contraband.”

A law-abiding person may want to put valuables in a hidden compartment when parking in a high-crime area, for example.

In addition to imposing fines and prison time, the bill, which is before the Virginia Senate Committee for Courts of Justice, also authorizes police to seize vehicles via civil asset forfeiture.

With civil forfeiture, police can seize property even if the property owner is not ultimately charged with a crime.

Nor does being acquitted of a criminal charge mean motorists automatically get their car back.

“The burden of proof is less in a civil forfeiture case than in a criminal prosecution,” said David Smith, an Alexandria-based attorney who helped draft asset forfeiture reforms at the federal level in 2000. “So the fact that you were acquitted would not prevent the government from trying to civilly forfeit the property.”

Unlike in criminal trials, in civil forfeiture hearings the government does not have to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.