If someone had something that just the possession of was illegal, but a court determined that the government illegally seized it, similar to a “fruit of the poisonous tree” deal.
If the person can’t possess it, yet it was determined that finding out he illegally possessed it was illegal, what happens to the contraband?
I’ve heard two cases but I don’t remember the exact details, but in one a guy with an illegal fully automatic weapon was given back to him after it was deemed to have been illegally seized, and another where someone was a child pornography distributor, but then had his child pornography given back to him after he sued the state for seizing it on illegal grounds. Is this normal?
Ask yourself who in their right mind would claim and take back illegal materials knowing that the cops know exactly what you have? If before the illegal seizure said person discovered that the cops knew what they had would not a reasonable person try and get rid of the evidence?
We would need a cite for these two cases in order to answer factualy.
I don’t buy either of these claims. Neither the courts nor any law enforcement agency are going to return illegal items to anyone. Most likely the items would sit in an evidence hold indefinitely or be destroyed.
People arrested on drug charges frequently get their cases dropped for one reason or another. Sometimes the court finds the probable cause was bad. They don’t get their dope back.
I believe the two guys who did the famous North Hollywood Bank Robbery had their illegally modified AK-47s seized by police earlier, but sued the police and got the guns back, only to then use them in the infamous bank robbery.
The second case I’m more firm on but can’t remember the details, but basically the US government sued a European man living in the United States for child pornography distribution but had entrapped him. The man successfully sued the government for false arrest as well as sued to get the seized the child pornography back and the court granted him the request ordering the child porn to be given back to him. He was planning on taking it back to Europe where it was considered legal.
No, that did not happen.
The pair had been charged with another crime but were released after about 3 months. They were in possession of semi-automatic rifles but those were not returned to them. Look up the article on Wiki.
As for your kiddie porn claim we’re going to have to see a cite on that.
The government doesn’t “sue” people doing something criminal. They arrest and prosecute them.
Why would you believe the courts or the police in the United States would give illegally modified machine guns or child pornography to anyone for any reason?
As of this month I have 40 years on the job. I have seen tons of drug cases get kicked, sometimes the judge finds the PC was weak. By your standard the defendants would get their dope back. Doesn’t happen.
I agree. No way either of those examples happened. The issue is that if they illegally seize your car, then it reverts back to your prior legal ownership. The law recognizes your title to that property.
If they illegally seize your heroin or child porn, it doesn’t revert back to you for a variety of reasons: public policy being at the forefront, but the best legal explanation is that as it is contraband, the law did not recognize your ownership of it at the outset.
The illegal seizure, and therefore the wrongful conduct by the police, prevents them from using that evidence against you in a criminal prosecution due to the exclusionary rule. However that rule doesn’t go so far as to restore you to possession of an illegal item.
I have arrested zillions of people for possession of marijuana and issued them a non-criminal municipal citation rather than charging a state crime.
Believe it or rot we have had people pay the citation and then come in and request their weed back! And the look on their face when told they don’t get it back, it’s still illegal here, is priceless. They are simply dumbfounded. “But I paid the fine!”
Pre-pandemic my nephew was flying from Denver to Pittsburgh for xmas. He had lots of marijuana in his carryon all purchased at Colorado dispensaries.
Going through security, TSA found it and offered to allow my nephew to toss it, no harm, no foul.
My nephew argued vehemently that he should be allowed to keep it and was disappointed when his arguments failed. Luckily he had much more in his checked bag and that wasn’t discovered.
No idea.
This article clarifies one thing I didn’t realize when I saw the boxes
Thanks to this new addition, travelers in Chicago can now enjoy their recreational marijuana until the very last minute that they’re in the city. And if you have some remaining, you can dispose of it in the bright, blue boxes before heading to the security line at no risk.
“The boxes, placed at the end of every TSA checkpoint at both O’Hare and Midway, were in place once the new cannabis law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. The boxes are where travelers can safely dispose of cannabis and cannabis products prior to travel, as they still remain illegal under federal law,” Maggie Huynh, spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department, told USA Today .
The only way I can see this working is if the materials were determined to not be in fact, child porn. There are various things that certainly straddle the line, and most people would probably think are, but can get away with by calling it “art”.
And yes, if the police seized something from you on the grounds that it is illegal, and it is later determined to not be illegal, they probably should give it back.
Without a cite or reference to the case you are talking about, it’s hard to say, but the way that you have described it must be incorrect on some details or others.
Add me to the list of people who don’t believe these incidents happened as described.
If there is a law against owning some item, the DA has to prove in court that you owned the item. If the police seized the item illegally, the DA cannot present that evidence at a trial. So for legal purposes, it’s like the police found the illegal item on the street and it has no connection to you. Congratulations, you just beat the charge.
What would be really stupid is for you to turn around and file a claim stating that you’re the owner of the item that it’s illegal to own. Because you’ve now given the DA evidence he can use in a trial.
As previously posted, unless the child porn was ruled not to be child porn, do you really believe the authorities are going to give an illegal item back to someone? And this story about how he was going to take it where child porn is legal (wheres that?) doesn’t cut ice, either. The courts and the cops don’t care about where you are taking something, they care about where you had it when you were caught.
Marijuana is illegal in my state. If I catch someone with it they can’t promise to take it down to Illinois where it’s legal and we let them go. It doesn’t work that way.
Can you imagine the outcry if some court gave someone back an item that was ruled to be child pornography? There simply is some fact missing in your story.
