Help? time question

Help? time question

"jim"	8/5/2004 3:07:56 AM
Hi, I am trying to find out how long authorities can hold my property that they seized during an investigation, without charging me with anything. any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm in Boston, Mass. yellow1@ix.netcom.com



"I approved this message"	8/5/2004 6:45:56 AM
It's called the War on Drugs exception to the Bill of Rights. "jim" <yellow1@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message news:mtednQvh9o9OfIzcRVn-vA@comcast.com... Hi, I am trying to find out how long authorities can hold my property that they seized during an investigation, without charging me with anything. any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm in Boston, Mass. yellow1@ix.netcom.com



"McGyver"	8/5/2004 11:33:20 AM
"jim" <yellow1@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message news:mtednQvh9o9OfIzcRVn-vA@comcast.com... Hi, I am trying to find out how long authorities can hold my property that they seized during an investigation, without charging me with anything. any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm in Boston, Mass. yellow1@ix.netcom.com They can keep it forever unless a court orders them to return it. Before you try for a court order, telephone them and ask for return of the property. Then write them a letter. Then have your attorney call. Then file the proper papers asking the court for an order. McGvyer



cj.green@worldnet.att.net (Christopher Green)	8/5/2004 1:57:41 PM
"jim" <yellow1@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message news:<mtednQvh9o9OfIzcRVn-vA@comcast.com>... Hi, I am trying to find out how long authorities can hold my property that they seized during an investigation, without charging me with anything. any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm in Boston, Mass. yellow1@ix.netcom.com You may be interested in Commonwealth v. Ellis, which is online at http://www.socialaw.com/superior/97-192c.html Apparently in Mass. you can move for return of seized property, and investigators are obliged to return property within a reasonable time (though "reasonable time" is not specifically defined, and many months or more than a year is sometimes reasonable), unless the property is subject to forfeiture or needed as evidence. If the property is, say, computers containing large numbers of encrypted files, and the defendant interferes with the investigation by, say, making repeated motions for stays, the "reasonable time" that investigators may retain the property may be very long indeed, as was held in Ellis. If the property is, say, computers that were used to write or store correspondence used in perpetrating insurance fraud, as they were in Ellis, the property is part of the instrumentality of the crime and may be held indefinitely pending trial and possible eventual forfeiture. If this is a Federal case, there is also a Motion for Return of Property available in Federal court. -- Not a lawyer, Chris Green

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