TN: No appeal of right for return of property under state 41(g) without successful motion to suppress

Where defendant pled guilty and did not raise a suppression issue, he could not, three years later, move for return of property under state rule 41(g) as a matter of right. The court of appeals held that the 41(g) motion could be filed anytime, and it can’t. “Rule 41(g) as written is not an open-ended vehicle for the return of seized property; it applies only when the seized property is the subject of a successful pretrial motion to suppress.” It is different than federal rule 41(g), and state procedural rules bar return here. State v. Rowland, 2017 Tenn. LEXIS 325 (June 2, 2017). State v. Rowland\, 2015 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 880 (Oct. 30, 2015) reversed (posted here).