I recently had two rifles seized by the police as evidence. I was charged with aggravated menacing, among a few lesser charges, and the case is still pending. I was told by the officers who booked me in at the station that it will be up to the judge IF I get my guns back, and "not to hold my breath". I was just wondering if any of you would mind helping me understand my rights in this situation. Can a judge really just arbitrarily decide I can't have my guns back?? One of them is a brand new DSA SA-58 carbine, which cost me about $1400. At the very least I'd like to be able to sell the thing to pay off whatever fines I get. Thanks for any info.

Here is how it works in Florida.

If you are convicted of a misdemeanor and its not a domestic violence case, you can get your guns back unless you are prohibited from posessing them while on probation.  Even then, you can sell them and let someone else pick them up.

If you are convicted of a felony, you don't get them back and lose your rights to them.

If you are found not guilty, you can get them back upon the disposition of the case.

In any event, no one gets any evidence back while the case is still open.

Don't know about Ohio, ask your lawyer.

Thanks for the quick response. I'm fairly certain I will be put on some kind of probation prohibiting me from owning any guns (one of the conditions of my bond prevents me from owning/possessing any firearms, so I'm sure they're going to pursue that). I'd hate to have to sell the thing, but it would definitely beat just handing it over. Again, thanks for the info.

You really need to talk to your attorney about this.

Especially if its a public defender, because after the case is over he won't have time for you.  He will not be "your" attorney anymore and you will be SOL.

If it/ they  was/were  seized as evidence, I assume that the weapon(s) was/ were  used directly in the commission of the offenses for which you were charged?

If thats the case, upon your conviction the weapons would be declared a nuisance firearm here in NYS and you would never get the weapon(s) back; they would be headed for the chopper.

The weapons were never really brought into play. A threat was made while I was being arrested, and the police asked if there were weapons in the residence. I said yes, there were two rifles. They staked out the house after I was taken to the station, and when a friend of mine came home later that night, they came in and took the guns. Evidently no one was supposed to come back to the house that night (there was a party earlier that got broken up, which started the whole mess).