text:                      United States Court of Appeals
                              FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
                                      ___________
  
                                      No. 02-1805
                                      ___________
  
  United States of America,                *
                                           *
               Appellee,                   *
                                           * Appeal from the United States
        v.                                 * District Court for the
                                           * Southern District of Iowa.
  Robert Joseph Willson, Jr.,              *
                                           *        [UNPUBLISHED]
               Appellant.                  *
                                      ___________
  
                            Submitted: April 3, 2003
  
                                 Filed: April 10, 2003
                                      ___________
  
  Before HANSEN,1 Chief Judge, MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD and BYE, Circuit
        Judges.
                                ___________
  
  PER CURIAM.
  
         Robert Willson, Jr., who was sentenced on drug conspiracy charges, appeals
  the district court’s2 denial of his Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(e) motion for
  
  
        1
         The Honorable David R. Hansen stepped down as Chief Judge of the United
  States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit at the close of business on March 31,
  2003. He has been succeeded by the Honorable James B. Loken.
        2
          The Honorable Ronald E. Longstaff, Chief Judge, United States District Court
  for the Southern District of Iowa.
  return of property, following remand and an evidentiary hearing. The property at
  issue is a Honda automobile, $1,400 in cash, and purported bail-bond notes, all seized
  during a search of his residence. Mr. Willson raises challenges to the court’s pre- and
  post-hearing rulings, and to the court’s conduct of the hearing itself, all of which we
  reject as meritless following our review of the district court record and the hearing
  transcripts.
  
         Specifically, the district court did not abuse its discretion when it refused to
  appoint standby counsel. Mr. Willson had refused the assistance of Attorney Alfredo
  Parrish, whom the court had offered to appoint for him, and instead elected to proceed
  pro se. Mr. Willson did not assert an alleged conflict with Mr. Parrish until much
  later in the proceedings, nor did he adequately explain that conflict, and he showed
  himself capable of presenting his case. See Rayes v. Johnson, 969 F.2d 700, 702-03
  (8th Cir.), cert denied, 506 U.S. 1021 (1992). The court also did not abuse its
  discretion in refusing to pay for an investigator to find and serve Mr. Willson’s
  witnesses, or to grant Mr. Willson more time to serve the witnesses himself, given
  Mr.Willson’s refusal to enlist the help of Mr. Parrish--who remained available to
  assist him on request--and the length of time Mr. Willson had had to find and serve
  the witnesses.
  
         Mr. Willson’s complaints about the government’s discovery responses and late
  provision of discovery fail because he shows neither abuse of discretion by the
  district court, see Duffy v. Wolle, 123 F.3d 1026, 1040 (8th Cir. 1997), cert. denied,
  523 U.S. 1137 (1998), nor resulting prejudice. We also find unsupported his
  assertion that the government destroyed paperwork seized from his residence as drug
  notes, to prevent him from proving that the material constituted bail-bond notes. And
  having carefully reviewed the hearing transcripts, we find no evidence that the district
  judge exhibited bias, improperly hindered Mr. Willson’s efforts to prove his case, or
  acted with anything other than proper judicial decorum.
  
  
  
                                            -2-
         Further, we conclude that the district court did not clearly err in finding (1) that
  the Honda had been reported stolen, and thus, state authorities towed it from
  Mr. Willson’s property and destroyed the Honda when the actual owner refused to
  reclaim it, (2) that the $1,400 had been mistakenly applied to satisfy the forfeiture
  obligation of Mr. Willson’s father (a co-defendant in the drug conspiracy case), and
  (3) that the search team seized the purported bail-bond notes based on a reasonable
  belief that the material represented drug notes. See United States v. Felici, 208 F.3d
  667, 669-70 (8th Cir. 2000) (in appeal of Rule 41(e) decision, this court reviews
  district court’s factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo), cert.
  denied, 531 U.S. 1201 (2001). Accordingly, we conclude that the district court did
  not err in denying Rule 41(e) relief for a stolen car whose destruction occurred at the
  hands of state authorities; for paperwork destroyed as drug notes, see id. at 670-71
  (explaining limited-derivative-contraband-theory defense in Rule 41(e) proceedings);
  and for a mistaken forfeiture of cash, see United States v. Hall, 269 F.3d 940, 943
  (8th Cir. 2001) (discussing sovereign immunity in Rule 41(e) proceedings), cert.
  denied, 122 S. Ct. 2626 (2002).
  
         We also conclude that the court properly entered judgment after Mr. Willson
  failed to file an alternative claim for money damages against the government (for the
  mistaken forfeiture of his cash) within the time frame imposed by the district court.
  Finally, we find meritless Mr. Willson’s assertions that he did not file the alternative
  claim because he had moved for reconsideration and had thought that the court’s
  deadline would be tolled while the court entertained his reconsideration motion, or
  that the court would rule on his motion in time for him to file the alternative claim
  before the court’s deadline.
  
        Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.
  
  
  
  
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  A true copy.
  
        Attest:
  
                 CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.
  
  
  
  
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