Gilgo Beach killings suspect wants his hundreds of seized guns back so he can sell them

By Jean Casarez, Laura Dolan and Yon Pomrenze, CNN

(CNN) — Gilgo Beach killings suspect Rex Heuermann has petitioned the court to reclaim more than 280 guns that were seized from his home in July so he can sell them and financially help his family while in jail.

The guns, which defense attorney Sabato Caponi said have significant financial value, could be sold to “provide a temporary but urgently needed respite from the financial hardships afflicting the Heuermann family,” the motion filed last Thursday states.

The firearms were seized in July when Suffolk County police searched their home in a “wantonly destructive and reckless manner,” the motion adds.

“In as much as Rex Heuermann remains incarcerated and his pistol license has been temporarily suspended, this Court should order the return of the seized property to a person designated by Rex Heuermann, individual or licensed gun dealer, who may legally possess the items,” Caponi wrote.

Heuermann, a 59-year-old architectural consultant who lived with his family in Massapequa Park in Nassau County, has been behind bars since his arrest in July on three charges of murder. He has pleaded not guilty to the killings of Melissa Barthelemy in 2009 and Megan Waterman and Amber Costello in 2010.

The case stems from the discovery of nearly a dozen sets of human remains along Long Island’s South Shore between 2010 and 2011. Four of the victims were found buried near each other off Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach, and they were dubbed the “Gilgo Four.” Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello make up three of the Giglo Four, and Heuermann is the prime suspect in the death of the fourth, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, authorities have said.

The causes of death for the women were determined to be “homicidal violence,” which ruled out the use of a firearm, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney has said.

The defense’s motion was filed in response to a prosecution motion asking the court to allow the transfer of Heuermann’s guns and other firearm items to the Nassau County Police Department.

The prosecution’s motion, filed in early September, requested the transfer because their analysis of the “firearms, magazines, cases, attachments, ammunition, bullet fragments and shell casings” they seized “has concluded.”

They added that they want to transfer the guns and other firearm items because some of them “appears to have been in violation” of New York State gun laws.

The motion lists out the full collection of the weapons cache over about 35 pages. The collection includes a number of assault rifles, pistols and shotguns, as well as several antique firearms, according to the document.

The defense argued that the court lacks the authority to relinquish them to Nassau police, because there has not been a request for the property from the other court, which is required. They also stated there is no matter currently pending before any court in Nassau County related to the seized guns and ammunition, another requirement, according to the defense motion.

In addition, the defense cited precedent in their motion, stating, “When property is no longer needed as evidence, the government must establish, in an appropriate proceeding, an independent interest to justify any further retention” and reminded the court that prosecutors said that they no longer needed the property as evidence.

Separately, Heuermann appeared in court Wednesday for a short status hearing on his upcoming trial. He told the judge he has been able to review case evidence in his cell and he had been averaging “two to three” hours of reviewing.

In court, prosecutors said they gave Heuermann’s legal team over 10 terabytes of information to review in August, including subpoenas and court records totaling roughly 8,000 pages. Prosecutors gave additional evidence Wednesday, including about 5,000 pages of evidence related to two victims, the grand jury testimony, police memo books from the search of his home and video surveillance.

The next hearing is set for November 15.

Outside court, Heuermann’s attorney Michael Brown said his client has been an “active participant” in the case and “is doing the best he can.”

“He’s not guilty of this. Now, he has to sit in custody, be away from his family, be away from his wife and kids, not work, not produce for his family and support them and sit in a jail cell until this case comes to fruition,” he said.

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CNN’s Eric Levenson contributed to this report.