Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Friday July 28 2017, @07:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the you-say-tomato-I-say-marijuana dept.

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.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @10:44PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @10:44PM (#546019)

    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)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @11:03PM (#546027)

    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)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @01:22AM (#546085)

      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)

        by mhajicek (51) on Saturday July 29 2017, @02:33AM (#546116)

        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

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @04:31AM (#546145)

          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]