(a) Personal property confiscated as stolen property by a lawful officer of the state, a county or a municipality of the state to be held as evidence of a crime shall be promptly appraised, catalogued and photographed by the law enforcement agency retaining custody of the property.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 40-17-118

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) The lawful officer of the state, county or municipality, in order to detain the property from the lawful owner, for whatever reason, more than thirty (30) days, shall show cause to the judge having jurisdiction over the property by petition filed by the district attorney general upon five (5) days’ notice to the property owner why the property should be further detained. The court may grant or refuse the requested impounding order upon the terms and conditions as are adjudged to be proper.
(c) The state, county or municipal authority holding the property shall be responsible for the return of the property to the lawful owner and shall be liable in damages to the owner of the property in the event of damage or destruction occasioned by the delay in the return of the property.
  Previous section
Next section  
 Part 1 Contents