What happens to evidence that cannot be stored after a case is solved and the trial ends? Such as vehicles, weapons, drugs, cash, consumables, etc.

Question

Surely not everything is stored in warehouses and evidence rooms, and surely certain things can’t just be thrown out or auctioned away.

In: Other

Answer 1

I cannot say for all states, but my home state all evidence must be kept for the duration of a prison sentence plus a few years (7-10?). And that is everything. If the defendant gets a new trial through an appeal you have to have that evidence for that trial. If you get rid of it, good luck trying to get that evidence used in the new trial. Plus everything must remain so that the defendant has access for the same reasons.

Additionally, most states have laws that govern how long evidence has to be kept for.

Edit: most places that store evidence have differing levels of storage. Some is put in to be destroyed immediately, such as seized drugs with no criminal charges. Then you have short term storage like liquor bottles that were found opened in a moving vehicle. May need that for court but the max penalty is so little that most pay a fine and move on. Then they have the rooms that are hardly ever gone into, which contain evidence from homicides and aggravated assaults where the defendant had a long prison sentence. Those are not needed for evidence anymore, but have to be kept due to the laws governing evidence retention.