Sheriffs deputies charged into a man's house (without even knocking) killed his two dogs, handcuffed along with his wife and mother in law in a "drug probe"
It turns out the drugs that were sent to his house (which led to the "no knock" warrant...which does not even exist in his state) were sent without his knowledge. Investigators now say it was part of a string of packages that were sent to people's houses to later be picked up without the homeowners knowledge.
So this guy's home was invaded...his two dogs (which were black labs...not exactly threatening dogs) were killed, and he had done nothing wrong.
Unfortunately for the sheriffs office, the guy they attacked was the MAYOR of the town. They probably could have found this out if they had bothered to tell the local police, but they decided not to I guess they must have questioned the investigative capabilities of the small town police force. Seems like their investigating skills are the ones that should be questioned.
Seriously, this is just nuts. Though this time they pulled it on someone who has the power to fight back. Though, it won't bring back the poor man's labs.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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Yeah, I've had experience with police overstepping the boundaries of legality. But that's the LAPD; you kind of expect that of them...
The FBI broke down my mom's door investigating charges that were later dropped. (It was the only door/window that didn't have a security door. Now it has one. And they didn't compensate her for breaking down her door, either, even though they weren't even looking for her or anything related to her.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
That's the thing that infuriates me, Kq--my sister got her (unlocked) door completely bashed in and the police didn't apologize or pay for a cent of it (they found nothing of whatever they were looking for, of course).
Posts: 1314 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
I've been hearing about this since it happened. What I hadn't realized was that it was the Prince Georges County Police Department. They've long had a reputation for brutality, although I suppose they might have cleaned up their act in recent years.
But then again, considering this story, looks like they haven't.
Posts: 959 | Registered: Jan 2002
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quote:After being caught twice with a "baggie" of marijuana, 23-year old Rachel Hoffman was reportedly told by police in Tallahassee, Florida that she would go to prison for four years unless she became an undercover informant.
The young woman, a recent graduate of Florida State University, was murdered during a botched sting operation two months ago.
y'know since it fits in so well with the theme.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
First of all, they found half a pound on Hoffman. That's a pretty big baggie. She was a small time dealer, not a recreational user.
Second, the grand jury seems to be blaming everyone involved with the case. Basically, the cops didn't know how to handle her. She immediately blabbed to her friends about what she was doing and should have been removed from the program then. The cops buddied up to her to take advantage of her. She asked her best friend to come to her drug bust and tape it. The cops had her try to buy too much from random strangers. They weren't close enough to step in when things went wrong. And finally, she didn't listen to them when the cops told her not to follow the dealers to a new location.
As far as we can tell so far, everyone involved was in over their heads and suffered a complete lack of patience. They all meant really well, but we all know where that road leads. We'll see what an actual trial decides.
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
I wonder if good cops, and I have known quite a few, are not aware of the many sociopaths and nutjobs in their ranks, or if they don't feel able to do anything about it. Also, whatever happened to screening? I'm pretty sure I could tell the bad from the good within a few seconds of meeting them.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:which led to the "no knock" warrant...which does not even exist in his state
No knock warrants do exist in Maryland. They passed a statute authorizing them in 2005 in response to a Md. court decision that said there was no such thing as a no knock warrant, but that police could execute a warrant without knocking if circumstances warranted. See MD Code, Criminal Procedure, § 1-203(a)(3)(iii) ("f warranted by application as described in paragraph (2) of this subsection, authorize the executing law enforcement officer to enter the building, apartment, premises, place, or thing to be searched without giving notice of the officer's authority or purpose.").
(a)(2)(ii) provides the standard for such warrants:
quote:An application for a search warrant may contain a request that the search warrant authorize the executing law enforcement officer to enter the building, apartment, premises, place, or thing to be searched without giving notice of the officer's authority or purpose, on the grounds that there is reasonable suspicion to believe that, without the authorization: 1. the property subject to seizure may be destroyed, disposed of, or secreted; or 2. the life or safety of the executing officer or another person may be endangered.
Note that the standard for determining if a warrant can be no knock is "reasonable suspicion," significantly less than the probable cause standard in place for obtaining a warrant in the first place.
It's not clear whether this is actionable as a federal constitutional violation - the federal standards for no knock searches will apply, not Maryland's, and 32 pounds of marijuana possibly creates enough for an officer to reasonably believe a no knock entry was appropriate. I hope there's a remedy at state law.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
I guess the local cops were wrong when they said they didn't (the article said the lawyers of the police said that they don't exist in Maryland).
Either way, you would think they would have to show him the warrant when he asked for it.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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posted
In more weird news, our State Attorney Willie Meggs has decided not to prosecute any more cases involving the DEA, and the local police won't be coordinating with them any more. As far as I can tell from the timeline in the paper, the DEA was only somewhat involved during the Hoffman drug deal itself, not any of the pre-planning where the grand jury cited the majoraty of mistakes.
The surreal part was Meggs comments in the paper. He basically said he was mad at the DEA for not testifying. The DEA said they'd be happy to testify if he served them with a subpeona. (That's how it is where I work, I get that. It's about privacy laws for us and probably them, too.) Meggs quote in the paper was, "If they said something, I could not use it against them. I wanted them to come in and talk and tell the grand jury what their role was."
Now, who in their right mind would go in and talk to the state attorney when he's publicly admitted that he's looking to pin something on them? I sure wouldn't.
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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The story--less than 30 miles from my house either a vigilante, or a hired gun for the sheriff began pretending to be a Fed. DEA/FBI/Homeland Security, it wasn't quite clear which department, but as he went around threatening suspects and proclaiming, "I'm with the Federal Government. Ever hear of the Patriot Act? I don't need warrants."
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
After local police shot an elderly woman (they had the wrong address on their no-knock warrant, and someone broke down her door and she shot at them. So they shot back, killing her) they are trying to make the no knock warrants harder to obtain, at least in Georgia.
Also,The police officers have been tried and convicted of various crimes, including planting evidence and lying about what happened after the fact. It seems the no-knock was obtained fraudulently. The officers were not in uniform, and the old lady had security bars on her door, giving her enough time to arm herself. All she knew was that she was in a bad part of town and three armed men were breaking down her door.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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