I hypered into a system to pickup some items and at the system coordinate I am at I see a vessel belonging to a character I know has been dead for several years now.
Shouldn't those go to the person assigned, and failing that then go to the market?
That is why. If the character was actually banned, the items will stay in his possession. Bans are an OOC matter, and therefore have no affect on the IC aspect of the game.