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CA11: Rule 41(g) is treated like a civil case, and defendant showed enough to get a hearing

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant’s Rule 41(g) motion was improperly denied without a hearing. The government said that the property was destroyed after the case was over, but defendant had the right to seek return and have a hearing if she made a sufficient showing. United States v. Melquiades, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 17859 (11th Cir. August 24, 2010) (unpublished): Similarly, in this case, Melquiades needed only to allege facts sufficient to demonstrate his possessory interest in the seized goods. Despite the government's arguments to the contrary, he was not burdened with “show[ing] that the United States ever had seized the asserted property, most of which he described in extremely vague terms,” or “that the asserted property belonged to him...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 29, 2010 (boomark / email).