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The Supreme Court of the United States ruled police in Indiana acted improperly when they seized a $42,000 Range Rover from a man who sold a small amount of heroin -- a decision that threatens some of the hundreds of millions of dollars in property seizures annually by police across the country.

In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the country's highest court ruled the Range Rover seizure was unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment's excessive fines clause.

In an Indianapolis Star story, IU McKinney Law Professor Shawn Boyne said the decision has a broader implication to other states, which are using the same procedures "or even more troubling procedures."

"The real problem is that it's really a disproportionate form of punishment because, unlike a fine you might get in a criminal case, that fine is set by the legislature and there's a cap," Boyne explained. "There's no cap on these and the legislature hasn't said, 'OK, for people caught with a gram of heroin, the limit is X.' So that's why the court says it's excessive, because there's no sense of proportionality between the property that's seized and the actual crime."

Professor Boyne is currently completing a fellowship with the American Council on Education's leadership development program while continuing to teach criminal law at the law school. A former senior trial prosecutor for the state of New Mexico, where she specialized in the prosecution of child sexual abuse and domestic violence cases, Professor Boyne teaches courses in cybercrime, criminal law, criminal procedure, and national security law.