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2021 New York Laws
PEN - Penal
Part 4 - Administrative Provisions
Title W - Provisions Relating to Firearms, Fireworks, Pornography Equipment and Vehicles Used in the Transportation of Gambling Records
Article 420 - Seizure and Destruction of Unauthorized Recordings of Sound and Forfeiture of Equipment Used in the Production Thereof
420.05 - Seizure and Forfeiture of Equipment Used in the Production of Unauthorized Recordings.

Universal Citation:
NY Penal L § 420.05 (2021)
Learn more This media-neutral citation is based on the American Association of Law Libraries Universal Citation Guide and is not necessarily the official citation.
§  420.05  Seizure and forfeiture of equipment used in the production of
           unauthorized recordings.
  1. Any police officer of  this  state  may  seize  any  equipment,  or
components,  used  in  the  manufacture  or  production  of unauthorized
recordings and may seize any vehicle or other means  of  transportation,
other  than a vehicle or means of transportation used by any person as a
common carrier in the transaction of business as  such  common  carrier,
used  in  the  distribution  of  such  unauthorized  recordings and such
equipment or vehicle or other means of transportation shall  be  subject
to forfeiture as provided in this section.
  2. The seized property shall be delivered by the police officer having
made  the  seizure to the custody of the district attorney of the county
wherein the seizure was made, except that in the  cities  of  New  York,
Yonkers  and  Buffalo,  the  seized  property  shall be delivered to the
custody of the police department of such cities, together with a  report
of all the facts and circumstances of the seizure.
  3. It shall be the duty of the district attorney of the county wherein
the seizure was made, if elsewhere than in the city of New York, Yonkers
or  Buffalo, and where the seizure is made in either such city, it shall
be the duty of the corporation counsel of the city, to inquire into  the
facts  of the seizure so reported to him and if it appears probable that
a forfeiture has been  incurred  for  the  determination  of  which  the
institution  of  proceedings in the supreme court is necessary, to cause
the proper proceedings to be commenced and prosecuted, at any time after
thirty days from the  date  of  seizure,  to  declare  such  forfeiture,
unless,   upon   inquiry  and  examination  such  district  attorney  or
corporation counsel decides that such  proceedings  cannot  probably  be
sustained  or  that  the ends of public justice do not require that they
should be instituted or prosecuted, in which case, the district attorney
or corporation counsel shall cause such seized property to  be  returned
to the owner thereof.
  4.  Notice  of  the  institution of the forfeiture proceeding shall be
served either:

(a) personally on the owners of the seized property; or

(b) by registered mail to the owners' last known address and by publication of the notice once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper published or circulated in the county wherein the seizure was made. 5. Forfeiture shall not be adjudged where the owners established by preponderance of the evidence that:

(a) the use of such seized property was not intentional on the part of any owner; or

(b) said seized property was used by any person other than an owner thereof, while such seized property was unlawfully in the possession of a person who acquired possession thereof in violation of the criminal laws of the United States, or of any state. 6. The district attorney or the police department having custody of the seized property, after such judicial determination of forfeiture, shall, by a public notice of at least five days, sell such forfeited property at public sale. The net proceeds of any such sale, after deduction of the lawful expenses incurred, shall be paid into the general fund of the county wherein the seizure was made except that the net proceeds of the sale of property seized in the cities of New York, Yonkers and Buffalo shall be paid into the respective general funds of such cities. 7. Whenever any person interested in any property which is seized and declared forfeited under the provisions of this section files with a justice of the supreme court a petition for the recovery of such forfeited property, the justice of the supreme court may restore said forfeited property upon such terms and conditions as he deems reasonable and just, if the petitioner establishes either of the affirmative defenses set forth in subdivision five of this section and that the petitioner was without personal or actual knowledge of the forfeiture proceeding. If the petition be filed after the sale of the forfeited property, any judgment in favor of the petitioner shall be limited to the net proceeds of such sale, after deduction of the lawful expenses and costs incurred by the district attorney, police department or corporation counsel. 8. No suit or action under this section for wrongful seizure shall be instituted unless such suit or action is commenced within two years after the time when the property was seized.

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