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AlterNet reports
On April 20, 2012, seven heavily armed Johnson County sheriff's officers conducted an early morning raid on the house of Adlynn and Robert Harte based on vegetative samples found in the couple's trash. It turns out those samples were tea leaves, and officers found a hydroponic tomato garden instead of marijuana.
The Hartes sued the county for $7 million on unlawful search-and-seizure claims, which a federal judge tossed after finding the officers were entitled to qualified immunity.
On [July 25, 2017], however, a three-judge 10th Circuit panel disagreed--and Circuit Judge Carlos Lucero offered a sarcastic summary in the ruling of the mistakes made by the officers.
"Law-abiding tea drinkers and gardeners beware: One visit to a garden store and some loose tea leaves in your trash may subject you to an early morning, SWAT-style raid, complete with battering ram, bulletproof vests, and assault rifles", Lucero wrote. "Perhaps the officers will intentionally conduct the terrifying raid while your children are home, and keep the entire family under armed guard for 2½ hours while concerned residents of your quiet, family-oriented neighborhood wonder what nefarious crime you have committed. This is neither hyperbole nor metaphor--precisely what happened to the Harte family in the case before us on appeal."
[...] The Hartes claim that officers lied about the field test results showing the tea leaves tested positive for THC, the principal ingredient in marijuana. Police failed to photograph the results and did not send the samples to a lab for confirmation, given the pressure to obtain warrants for the April 20 crackdown--facts not lost on [concurring Judge Nancy] Moritz.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @08:07PM (17 children)
It's far worse than a quantitative "how many other cases" issue. The only reason this ever got to the 10th was:
Just think about it: A couple of high-clearance ex-CIA employees, of which one was a lawyer, failed to convince the first federal judge despite overwhelming evidence... How the hell normal people who are abused by the government supposed to fight? This is a qualitative issue. The quality of justice has turned to shit in the States. It's selective enforcement. Selective judgment. And selective punishments. When only privilege, money and luck get you through a federal appeal for something so obvious that the first federal judge should just have dealt with in discovery as soon as he saw the falsified evidence, you know this nation is fucked.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by nitehawk214 on Friday July 28 2017, @08:24PM (5 children)
Its that kind of stuff that makes me think this was some kind of conspiracy. Ex-CIA lawyer makes trouble for the local legal system through some court case. Lets raid her house for drugs and aim guns at their children to keep her in line.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @10:27PM (3 children)
Seems unlikely.
The 2 big things here are:
- The date was 4/20 and the cops were looking to rack up a big score before the end of the day.
Actually processing the "evidence" per proper standards would have slowed them down.
- The cops had "staked out" the local hydroponics shop and anyone who went there was obviously growing dope.
A $7M judgment against the cops seems like a good first step in setting this right.
Take that out of the salary pool and start laying off bad/lazy cops to cover the shortfall.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Saturday July 29 2017, @02:21AM (2 children)
since in most cases, cops who do bad things are still untouchable by the law, that makes them very bold and too power hungry.
this is NOT a good formula for any kind of justice.
and add to this that the cops cannot be personally sued (many authority figures cannot be sued, this is also a HUGE problem) - and you simply cannot have any trustable justice system.
we are lawless. we have been for a long time. and only now are some people finally seeing it.
but that matters not; nothing will change and this will only get worse and worse over time.
I feel very sad for the US. I hate seeing MY country turn to shit like this.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Saturday July 29 2017, @02:45AM (1 child)
Start suing the cops individually in civil court. It directly affects their wallet and not the taxpayers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @04:14AM
What's that they say about great minds thinking alike?
The suggested dept line was [soylentnews.org]
no-qualified-immunity-for-incompetent-cops
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday July 29 2017, @04:18PM
There is definitely more to this story than you will ever get from Alternet or _gewg.
I don't know about a conspiracy, but one has to look into WHY was a search warrant issued in the first place, and how did the cops know about hydroponic equipment, (all he bought at the store was a small bag of fertilizer), and the tea leaves were found subsequent to the search, not before hand.
Outrage stories usually have to be deliberately written that way, they don't come naturally. Some assembly required.
Should the Police have backed out with apologies the instant they gave the sniff test to one tomato leaf from the hydroponic garden? Sure. Why was swat sent in the first place? Lots of blame to go around.
We don't have all the story. Any you won't get it from the original owner.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @09:10PM (5 children)
For the Hollywood reference: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102558/ [imdb.com]
Judges hold an amazing amount of power. There is nothing you can do to circumvent this problem, how do you keep a group of people from acting collectively? Every system will be built around people who are supposed to do their jobs, but if some asshole threatens the families of a dozen high ranking people then they can be forced to totally circumvent the system.
When it comes right down to it, survival is too powerful of an instinct to ignore. We need to build a system that minimizes the ability / desire for humans to run amock. Not sure how to do so because I believe in freedom, so there is a limit to what can be done.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @10:44PM (4 children)
Judges hold an amazing amount of power. There is nothing you can do to circumvent this problem
Not true.
Any public official is subject to impeachment.
That could be for doing his job in a horrible way or for committing a crime or just about anything.
(The "high crimes and misdemeanors" thing is open to interpretation; Slick Willie got impeached for a blow job--which isn't a crime, and which had nothing to do with his job performance.)
Not so long ago, Mark Fuller, a federal judge in Alabama resigned when it became clear that he was about to be impeached.
(He is a wife beater.)
N.B. He saved lawyer fees and is still able to draw his pension.
...but at least he isn't passing judgment on others in a federal court any longer.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @11:03PM (3 children)
Cops in my area used to have blank search warrants already signed by a judge, and this IS in the USA.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @01:22AM (2 children)
That is a violation of habeas corpus.
It is an overt criminal act on the part of the judge.
A valid warrant must describe specifically what is to be searched before it is signed.
That judge should not only be subject to impeachment, he should have been jailed.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Touché) by mhajicek on Saturday July 29 2017, @02:33AM (1 child)
Should... Wish in one hand...
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @04:31AM
I've mentioned Special Prosecutors several times before.
I think that every state should have one of those offices set up and active.
N.B. Current US Senator from California Kamala Harris was previously Attorney General for California.
She opposed Special Prosecutors.
For that reason, I am opposed to her being in public office.
(I blacked out both names on my paper ballot. Heh, try that with a voting machine.)
There are some stirrings that this first-term senator is going to run for president.
Again, I am opposed to her holding -any- public office, in particular that one.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Friday July 28 2017, @10:05PM (3 children)
I know that if I were in their shoes, with their background and training, that I would be awfully tempted to use all that to get real justice.
How long will it be before thugs like these invade the home of an ex-SEAL and stagger back out missing limbs? In a country with a lot of ex-military and lots and lots of automatic weapons it seems like it's only a matter of time.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @08:28AM
Well there's this
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/18/us/texas-no-knock-warrant-drugs.html [nytimes.com]
Small town lost a good sized chunk of it's police force to a well armed home owner defending his property against an illegal search and seizure.
(Score: 3, Informative) by t-3 on Saturday July 29 2017, @05:52PM
There is a young black man in Detroit facing murder charges for shooting and killing two plainclothes cops who kicked in his family's door with no warning. Chances are, the thugs will win the legal battle and a man trying to protect his family will be imprisoned for decades.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @09:13PM
i find it disappointing/disturbing that you use "automatic" when you more specifically mean "semi automatic" and you ostensibly know the connotation of "automatic" and should know it's used as dishonest propaganda. are you doing that on purpose or are you just ignorant of guns?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @10:08AM
There's also the fact is the CIA has also been involved in drugs, so how's that going to help for a drug case?