Judge Brown advised that he had in his possession a letter from Mr. Reagan indicating that the machines would be returned by August 16.

“There is nothing for this court to do other than my order,” he said, but added that he would get a ruling out as quick as he could.

The state had wanted to retain custody of the machines until they could appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court. They contended that it would be impossible to argue an appeal and return the machines.

The defense basically argued that the warrant which allowed the seizure of the machines was flawed and therefore the seizure itself was illegal.An emergency hearing on whether or not the state had to return the bingo machines seized from Greenetrack on June 1 ended with Judge Houston L. Brown sticking to his original ruling. He ruled on August 3 that the state must return all property seized by the State Attorney General’s Office  in the June 1 raid within 10 days of the date of his order.State and defense argued for more than an hour as to who would be hurt the most by the return of the bingo machines.Deputy Attorney General Henry Reagan argued that if the state returned the machines to Greenetrack, it would break the chain of custody and thus compromise the case in any other court.Charlanna W. Spencer, representing Greenetrack, argued that every day former employees of Greenetrack were hurt because the state had destroyed their place of employment.Judge Brown advised that he had in his possession a letter from Mr. Reagan indicating that the machines would be returned by August 16.“There is nothing for this court to do other than my order,” he said, but added that he would get a ruling out as quick as he could.The state had wanted to retain custody of the machines until they could appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court. They contended that it would be impossible to argue an appeal and return the machines.The defense basically argued that the warrant which allowed the seizure of the machines was flawed and therefore the seizure itself was illegal.