Getting a Seized Vehicle Back When No Charges Are Filed

Attorney Answer

You can ask a court to order the car returned, but which motion you file depends on why the State still has it — and the statute most people reach for does not contain a "they have had it long enough" ground. With no charges filed, you also have a procedural wrinkle: there is no pending case to file the motion in.

The governing law. Two statutes do the work.

General Statutes § 54-36a is the disposition statute and the one that actually gets property back. It defines contraband as property whose possession is prohibited by statute, requires the seizing agency to file an inventory of property seized in connection with an arrest or under a search warrant, and directs that property that is not stolen, contraband, or a nuisance is to be returned to its owner. Property adjudicated contraband or a nuisance is forfeited. An ordinary car is not contraband — possessing a car is not prohibited by statute — so the State's basis for holding it is either its evidentiary value or a claim that it was used in the offense.

General Statutes § 54-33f is the motion for return of unlawfully seized property and suppression as evidence. It lets a person aggrieved by a search and seizure move for return and suppression on five specific grounds: the property was seized without a warrant; the warrant is insufficient on its face; the property seized is not that described in the warrant; there was no probable cause for the grounds on which the warrant issued; or the warrant was illegally executed. Notice what is not on that list — that the reason for keeping it has expired. Because your car was taken under a warrant, § 54-33f helps only if the warrant or its execution is attackable. Importantly for you, the motion may be filed in the court with jurisdiction over your case or, if there is none, in the court that issued the warrant. That is your route with no charges pending.

A case worth knowing, and it went against the person asking. In State v. Perez, 173 Conn. App. 40 (2017), the Appellate Court held that a separate in rem forfeiture proceeding is not required for property seized incident to an arrest — disposition may be made within the criminal proceeding under § 54-36a(c) — and that the person moving for return bears the burden of establishing entitlement to the property and of providing an adequate record. The movant lost, and the denial was affirmed. One reason: the trial court had already adjudicated the items contraband and ordered them destroyed, that ruling was never appealed, and it became the law of the case, so a later judge was not obliged to revisit it. Perez involved a firearm found forfeited, not a family car, so the contraband analysis does not transfer — but the burden and the warning about failing to appeal do.

What you can do

1. Go to the clerk of the court that issued the warrant and get a copy of the warrant, the affidavit if it is unsealed, and the inventory the seizing agency was required to file under § 54-36a. 2. Gather your ownership proof now — title, registration, loan documents, insurance. Under Perez, the burden of establishing entitlement is on you. 3. Retain a lawyer before filing anything. A § 54-33f motion is also a suppression motion; filing it commits you to positions in a case that has not yet been charged. 4. Have counsel ask the prosecutor's office in writing whether the vehicle has been processed, whether the State claims it as evidence, and whether any forfeiture is contemplated. 5. Do not sign any consent-to-destroy, release, or abandonment form a police department hands you. 6. Photograph the car's condition if you can, and keep records of what the loss is costing you. 7. If a court enters any order disposing of the vehicle, appeal it. Perez is the cautionary tale on letting that go.

⏱ Time limits apply. If an order disposing of your vehicle enters, the window to challenge it is short — in State v. Perez an unappealed disposition order became the law of the case and a later judge was not required to revisit it. How long you have depends on the form of the order and the posture of the matter, so get the date of any order to a lawyer immediately.