Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 12-17-6 (2026)

Control and disposition of property used as evidence

✓ current as of July 2026

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All property, money, or estate taken or detained as evidence in any criminal cause shall be subject to the order of the court before which the indictment, information, or complaint shall be brought or pending, and shall, at the termination of the cause, be restored to the rightful owner.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases, 1982–2013 · leading case: State v. Werner, 851 A.2d 1093 (R.I. 2004).

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State v. Werner, 851 A.2d 1093 (R.I. 2004). · cites it 3× “Looking to § 12-5-7 2 and G.L.1956 § 12-17-6, 3 defendant asserts that the police had a duty to preserve the original.”

State v. Shore, 522 A.2d 1215 (R.I. 1987). · cites it 3× “The District Court, before which defendant was arraigned, has the jurisdiction to restore seized evidence to defendant.”

State v. Jaimeson Rushlow, 72 A.3d 868 (R.I. 2013). “” General Laws 1956 § 12-17-6, pertaining to property detained as evidence for trial, states: "All property, money, or estate taken or detained as evidence in any criminal cause shall be subject to the order of the court before which the indictment, information, or complaint…”

State v. DeMasi, 447 A.2d 1139 (R.I. 1982). “1956 (1981 Reenactment) § 12-17-6. The property was seized by state police officers pursuant to the execution of a search warrant at defendant’s residence on August 25, 1975.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.