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Section 117: Search Warrant--Seizure of Evidence
<br /> If, upon sworn complaint of any person, it shall be made to appear to the Everett
<br /> District Court that there is probable cause to believe that intoxicating liquor is
<br /> being sold, bartered, exchanged, given away, furnished or otherwise disposed of, or
<br /> kept in violation of this article, such court shall issue a search warrant directed to
<br /> a Civil Officer of the State of Washington duly authorized to enforce or assist in
<br /> enforcing any laws thereof, or to the Chief of Police or duly authorized police
<br /> officer of the City of Everett, or to an inspector of the Washington State Liquor
<br /> Control Board, commanding him to search the premises designated and described in
<br /> such complaint and warrant, and to seize all intoxicating liquors therefrom,
<br /> together with the vessels in which they are contained, and all implements,
<br /> furniture and fixtures used or kept for the illegal sale, barter, exchange, giving
<br /> away, furnishing, or otherwise disposing of such liquors, and to safely keep the
<br /> same and to make a return for said warrant within ten (10) days following, all acts
<br /> and things done thereunder, with a particular statement of all articles seized and
<br /> the name of the person or persons in whose possession the same were found, if any,
<br /> and if no person be found in possession of said articles the return shall so state. A
<br /> copy of said warrant, together with a detailed receipt for the property taken shall
<br /> be served upon the person or persons found in possession of such intoxicating liquor,
<br /> furniture or fixtures so seized, and if no person be found in possession thereof a
<br /> copy of the warrant and receipt shall be left in a conspicuous place upon the
<br /> premises in which the same are found. All liquor, seized pursuant to such search
<br /> warrant, shall upon final adjudication that it was kept in violation of this article,
<br /> be ipso facto forfeited, and upon such forfeiture be delivered to the Washington
<br /> State Liquor Control Board, or if so ordered destroyed.
<br /> Upon return of the warrant, as provided herein, the court shall fix a time, not less
<br /> than ten (10) days and not more than thirty (30) days thereafter, for hearing of said
<br /> return, unless such hearing shall be continued by the court, when he shall proceed
<br /> to hear and determine whether or not the articles so seized, or any part thereof,
<br /> were used or in any manner kept or possessed by any person with the intention of
<br /> violating any of the provisions of this chapter. At such hearing any person claiming
<br /> any interest in any of the articles seized may appear and be heard upon filing a
<br /> written claim, setting forth particularly the character and extent of his interest
<br /> and the burden shall rest upon the claimant to show by competent evidence his
<br /> property right or interest in the articles claimed, and the same were not used in
<br /> violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, and were not in any manner kept
<br /> or possessed with the intention of violating any of the provisions of this chapter.
<br /> If, upon such hearing, the evidence warrants, or if no person shall appear as
<br /> claimant, the court shall thereupon enter judgment of forfeiture and all of such
<br /> articles destroyed forthwith; provided, however, that if, in the opinion of the court,
<br /> any of the forfeited articles, other than the intoxicating liquor, are of value and
<br /> adapted to any lawful use, such court, if a part of the order and judgment, shall
<br /> direct that said articles, other than the intoxicating liquor, shall be sold upon
<br /> execution, by the Chief of Police, or by whomever he shall designate, and the
<br /> proceeds of such sale, after the payment of all costs in the proceedings, shall be
<br /> paid to the liquor revolving fund of the State of Washington. Action under this
<br /> section, and the forfeitures, destruction or sale of any articles thereunder, shall
<br /> not be a bar to any prosecution under any other provision or provisions of this
<br /> article.
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