§805-12 Unclaimed articles used as evidence, disposition of. Whenever an article, not subject to forfeiture or other disposition under any other law, which has been offered or admitted in evidence in any trial of a criminal case heard by a district judge, remains in the possession of the judge for a continuous period of one year after the final disposition of the matter in which the article was received in evidence, the district judge may deliver the article to the chief of police of the county in which the judge's circuit lies, together with such data as is available in the judge's files relating to the names of the defendants or other persons who might be the owners of the article, or of their attorneys. Thereupon the chief of police shall give notice by postcard or other ordinary mail to each such person or attorney whose address or last known address is available, stating briefly that the article (briefly describing the article in general terms) was offered or admitted in evidence, the approximate date of the offer or admission, the name and number of the case and the name of the court, and that, unless the article is called for and proof of ownership made within three months from the date of mailing the notice, the same shall be disposed of for the use of the county. In addition, the chief of police of the county shall publish a notice once in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county, which notice may relate to any number of different items and may be in substantially the following form:
Notice of Proposed Forfeiture of Unclaimed
Articles Offered or Admitted in Evidence
in Criminal Cases in District Courts.
All unclaimed articles which were offered or admitted in evidence in the hereinafter mentioned criminal cases in district courts in this county have been delivered to the undersigned for forfeiture according to law unless claimed by the owners thereof. Notice is hereby given that any articles not claimed within three months from the date of publication of this notice will be forfeited to and disposed of for the use of the county. The criminal cases in which the articles were so offered or admitted in evidence are as follows:
Title of Case
State v. Richard Roe and John Brown, Etc.
District Court of No. of Case
Second Circuit 55
Dated......................... ........................
Chief of Police, County of Maui.
Any article not claimed within the time required by this section by a person giving evidence satisfactory to the chief of police of ownership or right to possession of the article, shall automatically be forfeited to the county, and shall be sold by the chief of police at public auction, after publication of a brief notice of sale of unclaimed articles (without describing the articles or setting forth the names of the cases or courts mentioned in the notice of proposed forfeiture) once, more than two days prior to the sale, in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county, and the proceeds of the sale shall be paid into the general fund of the county as a county realization. The notice of sale may be included in the notice first hereinabove mentioned, provided the date therein noticed for sale shall be more than thirty days after the date of the publication. Any article upon which no bid is received, may by the county chief of police be either destroyed or given to any department or the county or to any charitable institution desiring the same. [L 1941, c 257, §1; RL 1945, §10782; am L 1949, c 182, §1; RL 1955, §57-15; HRS §710-15; am L 1970, c 188, §§39, 40; ren L 1972, c 9, pt of §1; gen ch 1985]
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