What happens if I kill someone in self-defense, say with my Swiss Army knife? Surely the knife will be admitted as evidence at some point, but if I get off the hook, do I get the knife back? I assume the same principle would apply if it were a knife, gun, baseball bat, frying pan, bag of potatoes, or whatever.
[This hijack brought to you by the letter O]
Fargin’ evidence rules. Don’t get me started. About 10 years back, my apartment was broken into. The two guys took my VCR and stereo receiver. Fortunately my landlord had just installed an alarm system ('cause the same two guys hit his place a month before), and he ended up grabbing one of them (the one with my stuff). Red-handed.
Now I know what you’re saying. Great, Pete can have his stuff back and only have to deal the sense of violation. Nope. My stuff got to hang out in the New London, CT police evidence locker (you know the New London PD, the ones who wouldn’t let a guy join because his IQ was too high) for eight months. It couldn’t be released until the perp’s case was settled. Finally he got accelerated rehab. Meaning that if he kept his nose clean for two years, the crime never happened. After it was settled I had to plead with the boyz in blue to give me my stuff. Finally they did, but they let me know that I should be extremely grateful for their magnanimity.
There, I feel much better now
[/rant]
I don’t know the answer to your question, but in my experience you have to ask for your property back; the police won’t just give it to you.
In my case, Idiot Ex-roommate accidentally (he said) put my Ruger Mk.II .22 cal. pistol in the trunk of his car. Since he hung out with disreputable types, and since one was standing by his open car, the police searched his car. They confiscated the pistol, but not the case. (This was his story.) A couple of months later I found a couple of passes to the shooting range and almost suggested we use them, but I was too busy and didn’t. As it was, he came clean a couple of weeks later that my pistol had been confiscated. The case was over at a “friend’s” house.
Now, I was the first owner of this pistol. Do you think the police could be bothered to contact Ruger to find out who they sold it to, contact the dealer to find out they sold it to, and then contact me? Uh-uh. I had to find out that the pistol was missing, then I had to call the police. Then I was told that they had to hold it for evidence. If it had been used in a crime, they would not return it. (What about “due process”? “Well, you can ask for it to be returned, but a judge could, and probably would, say no.”)
In the end they did return it, although there were a couple of scratches in it. It took about six months. I never did retrieve the case and extra magazine from Idiot Ex-roommate’s friend, so I had to spend $40 or $50 buying new ones from Ruger.
YMMV
Most of the time I think the weapon gets confiscated for evidence and you don’t get it back.
Back when I lived in Chicago, I knew someone who had been mugged twice and twice pulled a sword on the perpetrator. In both instances the sword was confiscated and not returned – then again, a sword does exceed the “legal limit” for a knife in Chicago by some considerable length, so maybe that was it.
When my husband was mugged some years ago getting into his car he sliced the guy up with a reed knife (he’s musician) and beat him bloody with the car door. The cops returned the knife on the spot and never mentioned taking the car.
So, maybe it’s just weapons used in self-defense they take, not large, useful objects like cars?
One thing is for certain - your mileage will vary