QUESTION

I was found sleeping in a building that was bought by the city and they seized my vehicle and all property inside but is this legal and fir how long?

Asked on Aug 23rd, 2020 on Criminal Law - Missouri
More details to this question:
I was sleeping in an abandoned chest hospital in mount vernon missouri and woke up to being hit in the head. I was arrested and charged with 2 counts of burglary and stealing. I was released from the jail within 20 min. It has been a week and they still haven't charged me and are still holding my property. What is my best course of action?
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1 ANSWER

Real Estate Attorney serving Kansas City, MO at Easter Shaw, LLC
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It sounds like you need to hire a lawyer. If the building was not public then the search of your vehicle was likely justified by using trespass as their probable cause. Seizure of the vehicle and property was likely related to the burglary and stealing charges. Without knowing more it is hard for me to give a definitive answer. Right now the courts are very backed up due to COVID, so it's not surprising that they haven't passed the charges on to a prosecutor yet. It will make its way there though.  In the mean time, you need to find an hire a lawyer so that you can challenge any search and seizure they conducted as well as get hold of the incident reports to determine what other defenses you may have. Many attorney's will do this for a flat fee. If you can't afford an attorney you should definitely look into getting a public defender as soon as possible. They are very overworked, but they are all good attorneys. Best of luck to you. 
Answered on Aug 24th, 2020 at 8:37 AM

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