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CaliFFL
Posts: 5,486 Senior Member
Grand Jury does not indict Texas man
CaliFFL
Posts: 5,486 Senior Member
For killing a Sheriff's deputy serving a no-knock warrant. It appears that Castle Doctrine in Texas is for real. I wonder if this event will force the police to rethink the no-knock warrent process?
http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/Man-Charged-With-Killing-Burleson-County-Deputy-No-Billed-by-Grand-Jury-243993261.html?device=phone
A Somerville man, charged with Capital Murder in the shooting death of a Burleson County Sheriff's Deputy, has been no-billed by a Grand Jury.
28-year-old Henry Magee was charged with Capital Murder, but Magee's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, confirmed to News 3 Thursday morning that the charge is being dropped.
Magee was indicted for Possession of Marijuana by the same grand jury. He is now waiting on bond to be set at the Washington County Jail.
Magee was accused of shooting and killing Burleson County Sheriff's Deputy Adam Sowders in a "no-knock" raid on Decemeber 19, 2013. Information released January 14th on the raid near Somerville, revealed what deputies were searching for inside Magee's mobile home.
In the process of executing that search warrant, Sowders was shot and killed. The Burleson County Sheriff's Office says the search warrant was issued after an informant claimed Magee had stolen guns and illegal drugs inside his mobile home. The informant had been arrested days earlier, but said he had been in Magee's home as recently as the day of his arrest and saw the drugs.
On December 13th, court documents show an informant told a Burleson County Sheriff's investigator he saw 12 to 15 marijuana plants growing inside Henry Magee's home on County Road 278 near Somerville.
According to the informant, Magee was a known dealer who had grown drugs in his home and, quote, "supplies numerous people around the Snook area with marijuana." The informant also claimed he saw rifles, along with a handgun that had "Washington County Sheriff's Office" etched on top, possibly a weapon stolen in a home burglary months earlier.
Deputy Adam Sowders filed for a search warrant, and requested to enter Magee's home without knocking or announcing law enforcement's presence. He gave multiple reasons based on what the informant had told investigators, including the fact that Magee had been overheard saying he wasn't afraid to use his weapons, he may have an aggressive dog, and that Magee could potentially destroy the drugs.
Sowders said he thought giving Magee notice would be, quote, "dangerous, futile, or would inhibit the effective investigation." A Burleson County Judge approved the warrant on December 18, 2013, and in the early morning hours of December 19, a SWAT team made the entry into Magee's home.
The court documents say quote, "By Magee's own admission he heard and observed the entry made by the SWAT team."
Deputy Adam Sowders was shot and killed.
Magee's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, has said Magee fired shots in an effort to defend himself, his pregnant girlfriend and his property from unknown intruders.
Texas Rangers were called in to collect evidence. Inside Magee's home, they say they found a sophisticated marijuana grow operation and several firearms.
DeGuerin has said all weapons found were legally owned.
http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/Man-Charged-With-Killing-Burleson-County-Deputy-No-Billed-by-Grand-Jury-243993261.html?device=phone
When our governing officials dismiss due process as mere semantics, when they exercise powers they don’t have and ignore duties they actually bear, and when we let them get away with it, we have ceased to be our own rulers.
Adam J. McCleod
Adam J. McCleod
Replies
Probably only in Texas. Either that or the SWAT Teams will be used for every warrant service.
Jerry
I'm betting they alter the no-knock entry procedure but not the process.
It's the debate of all warrants that require entry into a home. There is a lot of public safety interest in no-knocks. Even allowing the guy to take out the garbage and take him down there presents some element of public danger if he is packing at the time of approach.
Getting them while they sleep can be very viable (and is 99% of the time). A flash bang alarm clock is very disorienting. Now, not to armchair quarterback this, but intel should have told them the pregnant wife was in there. It's not always a mitigator, but is strong intel to re-evaluate the warrant execution.
Wonder they/SWAT didn't shoot him and his PG girlfriend after the shootin started. His life ain't gonna be worth a hill of beans around Somerville TX aftyer he gets outta jail for the plants.
I do feel sorry for the deputy's family. :angel2: A real tragedy any way you look at it. I mean it was legal to enter with a No-Knock, but it headed south real quick.
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
A warrant is not granted on suspicion alone. No honorable judge in his right mind would grant a warrant with anything other than probable cause--strong PC at that.
I guarantee there were several under cover drug buys and weeks of surveillance intel prior to that warrant execution.
It is lose/lose in this situation as you said.
Hell, they could have hooked the trailer up to a semi and dragged the whole Kit n Kaboodle off to the impound lot with him and the dope inside. :devil:
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
But aren't they supposed to announce very loud/clearly POLICE after they gain entry?
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and politician
"Supposed to"? They should. I don't know if they did.
I have to throw the BS flag. THIS warrant was granted on the word of a snitch that was arrested on Jan 13th. The warrant was issued on Jan 18th. Little to zero surveillance in four days. The cops kicked in a door of a man with a pregnant GF on the word of an arrested junkie that wanted to do less time. Court documents said that Magee had less than 5 lbs of live plants. Additionally, the guns found were all legal, which means Magee didn't have any felonies on his record.
Adam J. McCleod
If you have copies of all the investigatory documents prior to application for the warrant I'd like to see them. Or the probable cause affidavit that accompanied the SW.
Your words:
There was 5 days between the junkie arrest and the home invasion. I may not have copies of police docs, but even a lowly non-cop like myself can deduce that 5 days does not equal weeks of surveillance and several drug buys.
Adam J. McCleod
It sucks that Deputy Sowders lost his life and I feel sorry for his family and friends. However, when it comes down to shots exchanged between a home invader and the occupants of the home, I'm generally going to root for the guy who's NOT kicking in someone's door.
So you and I are making suppositions. Fancy that.
And what about before the informant's arrest? Other aspects of the investigation? We don't know.
As far as I'm concerned, anyone involved in the illegal drug trade, or any other illegal enterprise, should, BY LAW, be presumed to EXPECT POLICE INTERVENTION in his operation or at his premises, (business or residence), at any time, and be held completely responsible for any resistance he puts up.
Given the often violent nature of drug trafficking, anyone involved in such an enterprise should be held, BY LAW, to the highest possible standard of discerning, before resisting, whether he is being raided by law-enforcement, or being "hit" by a competing drug operation.
Self-defense should not be an accepted legal strategy in cases where an officer is killed or injured by a defendant already engaged in a violent occupation, and who knew, or should have known, that sooner or later, an attempt to take him into custody would be made.
We don't know everything about this case. I've read about enough no-knock warrants to have learned a few things. Too many times the wrong house gets hit. If the cops had bought dope or spent weeks watching a house THE WRONG HOUSE WOULD NEVER GET HIT!!! Too many times, the cops will serve a no knock warrant based on the word of a CI that is LYING!
Example of lying snitch:
The Texas Rangers said none of the guns were stolen. A cop is dead because of a lying CI. Speculation here, but I doubt the raid would've taken place if the CI had spoken the actual truth and not this:
In the end Magee only had 12 plants. So, what does a lying CI get charged with after a cop is killed based on his lies?
Adam J. McCleod
There are almost 60,000 no-knock raids annually. This isn't about drug dealers anymore. Someone just posted about a no-knock served because the cops knew the resident had a CCP. He was suspected of having $1000 worth of credit card fraud merchandise, which, of course, he did not.
Let that sink in...they kicked in his door because he had a permit.
Adam J. McCleod
This is why if the only or both parents are arrested here following criminal or criminally enterprising activity with no one but the state for the kids to go to, they are charged with child neglect pursuant to their voluntary involvement in activities they knew or should have known would have them arrested leaving the child/children without proper care.
If you are a criminal and engage in such activity, expect them to come knocking. Or in this case, not.
Give me more than one example to validate "too many times".
If you are a jackass who routinely breaks into peoples homes, expect to eventually end up in the hospital. Or in this case, not.
Or they had PC to get the warrant based on a criminal investigation and chose to do a surprise warrant, given the implications of a CWP, to decrease the risk of the subject being armed (sleeping) versus being awake when it could be presumed he would be carrying.
No no....it can't be a tactical call whatsoever. It's all JBT tactics... :roll:
And if you are the jackass who routinely engages in criminal activity, expect them to be coming for you.
That's the problem with the late at night-early morning no knock raids. The raiders have the upper hand most of the time, but every once in a while they walk into a hornets nest. And this time it was all over the filthy lies of a CI, and a cop got killed.
And another thing about this whole no knock mess. You treat everybody like violent criminals or wild animals, and they will eventually start to present themselves exactly as you treat them. Extreme violence met with extreme violence. That's just basic psychology.
Here's a recent no knock at the wrong house that ended in the murder of a 61 y.o. man. Happened this week.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95475
Home> U.S.
Man Dies in Police Raid on Wrong House
L E B A N O N, Tenn.
By Vicki Brown
A 61-year-old man was shot to death by
police while his wife was handcuffed in another room during a drug
raid on the wrong house.
Police admitted their mistake, saying faulty information from a drug informant contributed to the death of John Adams Wednesday night. They intended to raid the home next door.
The two officers, 25-year-old Kyle Shedran and 24-year-old Greg Day, were placed on administrative leave with pay.
“They need to get rid of those men, boys with toys,” said Adams’ 70-year-old widow, Loraine.
John Adams was watching television when his wife heard pounding on the door. Police claim they identified themselves and wore police jackets. Loraine Adams said she had no indication the men were police.
“I thought it was a home invasion. I said ‘Baby, get your gun!,” she said, sitting amid friends and relatives gathered at her home to cook and prepare for Sunday’s funeral.
― Douglas Adams
So whats to prevent an actual armed intruder from breaking in and yelling "POLICE"?
That is tragic, no doubt. That was not a no-knock by the widow's description, but nevermind that, I suppose. She had time to yell to him to get his gun, but asserts it was a no-knock? Yea, ok.
As for all this lying CI stuff, it sounds like that's the underlying sentiment of all these arguments, not the warrant execution itself.
And if you execute on the wrong house, you're dumb. All there is to it.