Colorado Code § 44-3-907

Return on warrant - sale of liquor seized
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this section
(1) If any alcohol beverages are
there found, said officer shall seize the same and the vessels in which they are contained and all
implements and furniture used or kept in connection with such beverages in the illegal selling,
bartering, exchanging, giving away, or carrying of same, and any wagon, automobile, truck,
vehicle, contrivance, thing, or device used in conveying the same, and safely keep them and
make immediate return on the warrant. The property shall not be taken from the custody of any
officer seizing or holding the same by writ of replevin or other process while the proceedings
relating thereto are pending.
(2) Final judgment of conviction in such proceedings shall be a bar to any suit for the
recovery of any property so seized or the value of same or for damages alleged to arise by reason
of the seizure and detention. The judgment entered shall find said alcohol beverages to be
unlawful and shall direct their destruction or sale forthwith, in the manner provided by
subsection (7) of this section. The wagon, automobile, truck, vehicle, contrivance, thing, or
device, vessels, implements, and furniture shall likewise be ordered disposed of in the same
manner as personal property is sold under execution, and the proceeds therefrom applied, first in
the payment of the cost of the prosecution and of any fine imposed, and the balance, if any, paid
into the general school fund of the county in which the conviction is had.
(3) The officer serving the warrant shall forthwith proceed in the manner required for the
institution of a criminal action in the court issuing the warrant, charging a violation of law as the
evidence in the case justifies. If the officer refuses or neglects to so proceed as specified, then the
person filing the affidavit for the search warrant, or any other person, may so proceed.
(4) If, during the trial of a person charged with a violation of this article 3, the evidence
presented discloses that fluids were poured out, or otherwise destroyed, manifestly for the
purpose of preventing seizure, said fluids shall be held to be prima facie alcohol beverages and
intended for unlawful use, sale, barter, exchange, or gift.
(5) If no person is in possession of the premises where illegal alcohol beverages are
found, the officer seizing the alcohol beverages shall post in a conspicuous place on said
premises a copy of the warrant, and if at the time fixed for any hearing concerning the alcohol
beverages seized, or within thirty days thereafter, no person appears, the court in which the
hearing was to be held shall order the alcohol beverages destroyed or sold in the manner
provided in subsection (7) of this section.
(6) No warrant issued pursuant to this article 3 shall authorize the search of any place
where a person may lawfully keep alcohol beverages as provided in this article 3. No warrant
shall be issued to search a home occupied as such, as provided in this section, unless it or some
part of it is used in connection with or as a store, shop, hotel, boardinghouse, rooming house, or
place of public resort.
(7) Any sale of alcohol beverages conducted upon order of court pursuant to this section
shall be conducted in the following manner:
(a) The officer ordered by the court to conduct the sale shall give notice of the time and
place of the sale by posting a notice in a prominent place in the county for a period of five
consecutive days prior to the day of the sale. The notice shall describe as fully as possible the
property to be sold and shall state the time and place of the sale.
(b) The sale shall be conducted as a public auction in some suitable public place on the
specified day at some time between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and the time chosen for the
sale shall be indicated in the notice.

‹ Prev All Colorado sections Next ›


Lexace provides legal information, not legal advice, and no attorney–client relationship is created. Statute text is provided for general information and may not reflect the most recent amendments; verify against the official state code.