It's our policy in the District Attorney's Office and the Topeka Police Department to vehemently oppose the return of guns, especially guns that were seized in connection with drug raids. In this case they were. The defendants can't even legally possess them because of their convictions. The district court reviewed the relevant statutes and concluded that it had discretion as to the disposition of the guns. The court then concluded that it would exercise its discretion by ordering the guns destroyed.
Defendants appeal therefrom.
22-2512 concerns the safekeeping and disposal of various types of seized property. All other confiscated weapons when no longer needed for evidentiary purposes, shall in the discretion of the trial court, be destroyed, forfeited to the law enforcement agency seizing the weapon for use within such agency or traded to another law enforcement agency for that agency's use or forfeited to the Kansas bureau of investigation for law enforcement, testing, comparison or destruction by the Kansas bureau of investigation forensic laboratory . At oral argument, the State withdrew its contention that the firearms were used in the commission of crime. When a statute is plain and unambiguous, the appellate courts will not speculate as to the legislative intent behind it and will not read such a statute so as to add something not readily found in the statute. Statutes for the seizure and destruction of property are penal and must be strictly construed against the State and in favor of the owner.