Families of SOs Community Group
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My husband was sentenced on March 1st to possession of CP. When the feds raided our home at the beginning of everything, they took any electronics that belonged to my husband, even those that had nothing illegal on them. As part of the plea, my husband forfeited all that was taken on the day of the raid. Today I received a certified letter with notice of intent to dispose of forfeited property. This letter was addressed to me(the wife) not my husband. It goes on to say "any person, other then the defendant in this case, claiming interest in the forfeited property must file a petition within 60 days." My question is, has anyone done this and is it even worth my time. I guess I just figured everything the feds took was a complete loss and we would never see it again. Personally, I could care less if I were to get it back. However, there was a brand new Ipad that did not have anything illegal on it that I wouldn't mind getting back if it wouldn't be a huge hassle in doing so. I don't even know where to being in filing a petition, anyone have any information on if I should bother with this, and if so, where do I start?
If the iPad had no CP on it, I would do as follows. First, contact your husband's attorney. Criminal defense attorneys typically know how to file these petitions, as it is not an uncommon thing to do, especially where property is taken that belongs to others in the home. He/she may offer to file it for you. Second, if not, you can simply write a letter stating that you request return of the iPad, and explain that it belongs to you, you purchased it, and that to your knowledge, it does not contain any contraband. I'd send the letter to the Clerk of Court for the federal court where your husband was sentenced, with copies sent to the judge and the U.S. Attorney's Office (perhaps the address listed on the letter you received). The Clerk of Court may actually deem the letter to be a formal petition, and file it publicly on the docket for you (though he may not, but I've seen letters received later be docketed by the Clerk). You should thus include your husband's case name and number on your correspondence, as well as any case number on the letter you received. If they want you to pay for it (and I have no idea if they would), you can always then withdraw your petition.
Adam
Sometimes we do not tell people how much we appreciate them and what they do. I just want to say, "Thank you."
rewdiazepam
There is also a good chance your husband never saw a list of what they confiscated.
In my son's case, he did sign a document that stated he was revoking his rights to any and all material.
However, that same document never stated WHAT all they took.
In your husband's case, I am sure he just thought the stuff that he knew had CP on it, and left it at that.
They tried to take my son's 42" Plasma TV....When we asked why a TV set was slated to be used as evidence, their rationale was, "Well, this TV has USB ports on it, and we know usb is used to TRANSFER computer related material from one source to another, ect,ect...I told them, and backed it up from the specs from the TV manufacturer that, the TV has no memory storage capability. The next day, we removed the TV from his house, and brought it to Florida ( he lived in Georgia ). That's the last we heard about it.