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If your LL refused to fix the heat in the unit, you should have followed the procedure set forth by your state. This could have been depositing rent with the clerk of court or correcting the problem yourself and deducting the amount of the repair from the rent paid. Each state has a procedure for forcing the LL to fix habitability issues such as this. Are you saying he evicted you by court order or merely forced you to move by giving you 30 days notice? They are quite different. If evicted by court order, you were to have removed your things by the date the court gave him back physical possession (not the order of possession). Once the court gives him back physical possession and allows him to change the locks, those things are trash. You had your chance to remove them. They should have been set to the curb for pickup. If he merely gave you notice to vacate and you failed to vacate all of your property within that time, he has to make a decision. Does he go ahead and evict you to get the rest of your things out, or did you leave unwanted property or trash as you abandoned the unit? If he feels that it was abandoned, he has to follow your state's rules on abandonment. (Some state's rules on abandonment may require unpaid rent for a period.) Generally abandonment means a notice must be posted to the door for a period of time, allowing you to contact him and contest the abandonment, and/or storing your belongings to give you an opportunity to claim them. In some states, he can charge you a storage fee which you must pay to reclaim them. But he cannot hold them hostage for unpaid rent. If you cannot take him to small claims court for the value of the bookcases, could you take him to civil claims? I doubt the police will get involved in a dispute over property between you and your LL.
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