A man whose gun was held as evidence in a case that is now closed wants his gun back — but the Longview City Attorney says he'll have to go to court to get it.This is absolutely wrong. Until they adopt my one-strike-you're-out law, they shouldn't be able to get away with this.
"What he's forcing me to do is take my chances or pay an attorney more than the gun is worth to get it back," said Kirk Turya, 43, of Longview, who feels his constitutional right to due process is being violated.
"I'm a hardworking, law-abiding citizen," said Turya, a long-haul trucker and a former Kelso reserve police officer. "If I had a criminal history, I could understand, but my record is spot clean."
Longview police originally took the 9mm Glock in October after Turya's brother Eric accidentally dropped it and it discharged in an apartment located in the 1700 block of Hemlock Street.
The bullet went through a table and floor and into the apartment below, where it ricocheted off a wall and the floor. Either the spent bullet or a piece of debris struck the leg of a little girl in the lower apartment, frightening her. Police said they saw no injury.
"The horror of that story is not lost on me," Kirk Turya said.
Eric Turya, 47, of Longview denied guilt, but on March 21 he acknowledged he could be found guilty of unlawfully discharging a firearm within the city limits. If he pays $568 in fines and court costs and commits no other crimes by May 21, the charge will be dismissed from his record.
District Court Judge Ed Putka did not order the firearm forfeited.
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