Q: How can I get the property the police listed as in "safekeeping" while I am still going to court on the charges.
The warrant was for drugs. The place of the search was a house, all outbuildings at the address, and vehicles under the control of my co-defendant. My name was not listed on the warrant and I was staying in a camper behind the house. When the police came I exited the camper and said they could not enter without a warrant. I was cuffed and ushered away from the camper. They took me away and found drugs and guns in the camper and both of my vehicles. I had a court appointed attorney (outside the pub. def. office) who botched my motion for suppression. The judge approved her motion to withdraw only after I expressed my concerns with her relationship to the DA. I feel she was trying to force me to take a plea. She endorsed witnesses without talking to me about it. I feel that everything I told her she shared with the DA. Asked her for my complete discovery many times to no avail. DA just ammended charges. Can I file a motion to suppress on the new charges and get another hearing?
A:
Evidence can generally be kept by law enforcement until the time of sentencing even if the property belongs to other than the defendant.
If a motion to suppress has already been heard and denied, then a subsequent motion to suppress regarding the same issue/evidence is more often a motion to reconsider or similar motion.
Often the defense attorney is prohibited from giving the client copies of the records/other evidence provided by the prosecutor's office. The defense attorney instead has the client to come to the attorney's office to review these documents/videos, etc but can't give a copy to the client to take with. If a person chooses to represent themselves, I know the person does get to review the evidence against them. I'm not sure where the person needs to go to review such as they may still not be allowed to have a copy to take home.
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