Updated 3:12 p.m.

A jury in Yamhill County has found that police can legally seize the home of a woman convicted of a felony drug crime in a case that tested the limits of Oregon’s civil forfeiture law.

Sheryl Sublet, 62, was sentenced to six years in prison after she pleaded guilty in 2018 to selling less than 1,000 grams — or about $10,000 — of methamphetamine, court records show.

The grandmother and military veteran also forfeited $50,000 in cashier checks that were found inside her Northwest Pike Road residence, located about 3 miles outside of the town of Yamhill, at the time of her arrest.

The Yamhill County Interagency Narcotics Team, which led the criminal investigation, later tried to take Sublet’s $354,000 home, setting up a rare legal showdown.

Under the state’s civil forfeiture law, authorities can seize items from a person only if they are first convicted of a crime and the property is suspected to be a proceed or instrument of the illegal conduct.

But the statute also emphasizes that the value of the property forfeited should be “proportionate” to the conduct underlying the criminal conviction.

The fate of Sublet’s home went before a jury this week, an unusual occurrence in civil forfeiture proceedings.

After a two-day trial, the jury determined Wednesday that the woman’s home helped facilitate her criminal activity and that forfeiting it to police would not be excessively punitive.

Zachary Stern, a lawyer for Sublet, said he plans to appeal the decision.

“We don’t believe it’s appropriate for officers to police for profit,” Stern said. “Hopefully, my client is not homeless upon her release from prison.”

Alisa Ray, a deputy district attorney who handled the case for the county’s narcotics team, did not respond to a request for comment.

You can read more about the case here.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632

Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh

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