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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.


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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday July 29 2017, @04:18PM

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday July 29 2017, @04:18PM (#546303) Journal

    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.

    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.

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