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Police Raids

Police Raid Innocent Couple Because Their Son Had a Misdemeanor Marijuana Charge

Radley Balko has the details of yet another ridiculously excessive drug raid, this time in Carroll County, MD. From the victim:

After reviewing the search warrant I was horrified to realize these "hut-hut" men came in with M-16s in the middle of the night because my son had been arrested for a misdemeanor marijuana charge. The affidavit filed for the search warrant stated that "it had been the officer’s experience that persons who are arrested with illegal drugs continued to use, abuse and/or distribute illegal drugs". This was the probable cause.

As awful as that sounds, it’s actually worse. The kid a) didn’t even live there anymore, and b) had already been to court for the marijuana charge. What they were they doing raiding his parents? It’s just absurd. Whoever signed that warrant should be fired, if not jailed for reckless endangerment.

And if that’s not enough, it appears that Carrol County’s judges have been signing warrants like this routinely. Sounds like a good reason to pass legislation requiring better documentation of drug raids in Maryland.

Maryland Legislation Seeks to Address Out-of-Control SWAT Raids

Following the botched drug raid death of his two dogs, Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo has gone from drug war victim to hero of justice. His dreadful experience – and dignified response – has inspired two Maryland legislators to introduce a bill that will improve data collection on aggressive police raids:

All the bill does is require each local police department to submit a monthly report of any SWAT activities, with details of time, place, evidence seized, arrests, and any injuries. "This bill is an important first step that doesn’t restrict [SWAT] use," Calvo said. "It merely brings transparency." Transparency should be the least the public demands with regard to the use of potentially deadly force. [Examiner]

Don’t be at all surprised when law enforcement interests in Maryland bitterly oppose any effort to document their activities. They are going to completely freak out about this. You know why? Because police in Maryland conduct unnecessarily violent drug raids all the time, endangering innocent people routinely and without consequence. Naturally, they would prefer that such conduct not be scrutinized.

Ryan Frederick Found Guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter

Well, it could have been a lot worse:

A jury convicted Ryan Frederick of voluntary manslaughter this afternoon in the January 2008 death of Chesapeake police Detective Jarrod Shivers.

It also convicted him of simple possession of marijuana.

In the process, the group opted against the two most serious charges filed against the 29-year-old – capital murder and manufacturing marijuana. Voluntary manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Marijuana possession is a misdemeanor, with a maximum sentence of 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine. [Virginian-Pilot]

I imagine this is one of those cases where both the defense and the prosecution breathed a sigh of relief. It could have turned out much differently and this outcome enables each side to claim that they did their job.

It’s hard to know what to make of this. Frederick was the victim here, no less so than the officer whose life was lost. This young man deserves no punishment and will now serve at least a couple years, I’d bet. He went down hard in what’s rapidly becoming a classic botched drug raid scenario wherein a suspect believes police are burglars and uses a firearm to defend their home with fatal consequences.

The staggering magnitude of police incompetence and corruption at stake here deserves considerable investigation and I hope today’s outcome won’t close the door on that. In the meantime, let’s keep Ryan in our hearts as he heads to the sentencing phase.

The Killing of Cheye Calvo’s Dogs is a Story That Won’t Go Away

Washington Post has a definitive account of the killing of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo’s dogs that took place during a botched drug raid back in July. It’s an impressive feature that references Radley Balko’s research and really nails down the faulty drug war tactics that brought this tragedy about. As upsetting as the story is, it’s vital that this incident becomes more than a footnote in the long and growing list of brutal drug war excesses that occur everyday in America and beyond.

An accompanying online chat with Calvo included this question:

Washington, D.C.: Mayor Calvo, thank you for courageously speaking up and telling the world about the tragedy perpetrated on your family. I know you have forcefully called for some incremental reforms on the state level, but don't you agree that we will continue to see innocent lives lost in raids gone wrong, billions of dollars wasted on arrests and incarceration, and empowering of violent criminal enterprises as long as drugs are illegal? Isn't the real solution to put drugs into a legal and regulated framework like we did when we legalized alcohol 75 years ago?

Cheye Calvo: Let me say first that I have never done drugs and have a fairly deep personal opposition to them. That said, I also have a serious problem with public policy by metaphor -- and the 'war' allusion is especially dangerous. Clearly, the current policy is a failure, and there needs to be a genuine public discussion here. A federalist at heart, I think that states should have greater leeway to try new approaches. There has to be a middle ground between outright legalization and a military state.

That sounds awfully reasonable and although I’d argue that anything short of a regulated market would continue to produce unnecessary violence, I think Calvo is speaking in a way many people can relate to. I think it’s this type of argument from this type of person that will eventually make a difference in the way the war on drugs is fought in our communities.

Ryan Frederick Trial Goes to the Jury

We should be seeing a verdict soon in the case of Ryan Frederick, the Virginia man who was charged with murder for killing a police officer who he mistook for a burglar during a questionable drug raid.

The jury failed to return a verdict on Tuesday and will continue deliberating Wednesday. Having followed the case closely, I’m pretty worked up about it and I’ll be glued to the computer until this gets resolved. A guilty verdict would not only send an innocent man to prison, but would provide a symbolic victory for the worst aspects of drug war policing, those that created this tragedy in the first place.

Beyond all that, the trial itself has been a grand injustice, really just a classic railroading that brought out the worst of the worst as far as drug war prosecutorial tactics are concerned. Ryan Frederick is simply not the man the prosecution made him out to be, not on any level whatsoever. In one familiar example, prosecutor Paul Ebert used testimony from a "marijuana expert" to grossly exaggerate the capacity of Frederick’s personal marijuana garden:

Meinhart says 1 plant produces 1 pound of salable marijuana. 1 pound is 16 ounces, and at $400.00 per ounce is $6400.00 times 10 plants is $64000.00. [Tidewater Liberty]

Yet, as Radley Balko points out, Frederick had a not-so-great job getting up at 4 a.m. to deliver sodas. He didn’t have $64,000. Police only found 12 grams of marijuana in the raid. All of this is just pure garbage, the same bogus story recycled over and over again in every marijuana trial. But it’s particularly insidious in this case, since the goal is not only to convict Frederick of a marijuana offense, but to destroy his image before the jury and nail him on a false murder charge.

Please join me in keeping your fingers crossed that Frederick will be set free.

Ryan Frederick Trial

Radley Balko has been covering the trial of Ryan Frederick, the Virginia man who was charged with murder for killing a police officer who he mistook for a burglar during a questionable drug raid.

I’ve been doing my best to report new developments, but it’s an insanely complicated situation and I just don’t have time to cover it adequately. I recommend Radley’s excellent blog The Agitator to those of you who are following the case closely.

Another Botched Drug Raid: Officers Shot, Mistaken for Burglars, No Drugs Found

Over and over again, it just keeps happening:

Three metro SWAT officers were shot last night when they tried to serve a search warrant on a home in Henderson. A resident of the home told Channel 8 that the homes residents had no warning that the police were coming, they hid in a back room and fired at officers through the door thinking it was a break in. Two officers were treated and released according to Sheriff Doug Gillespie and a third will need surgery on his arm. Channel 8 is reporting that no drugs or drug paraphernalia have been found by police. [KXNT.com]

The suspect, Emmanuel Dozier, is now facing 3 counts of attempted murder. Interestingly, he’s also facing cocaine charges although nothing was found in the raid. Of course, whether or not he was involved in drug activity, this appears to be a pretty clear case of a suspect who just thought he was defending his home and family from unknown intruders. As we’ve seen so many times, the use of sudden entry tactics made the situation more dangerous, not safer.

Dozier will undoubtedly face vigorous prosecution, accused of willfully attempting to murder police. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in light of the fact that he had nothing illegal in the house and no reason to initiate a shoot-out with the cops. Stay tuned.

More on the Ryan Frederick Case

Radley Balko has new details in the case of Ryan Frederick, the Virginia man who was charged with murder for killing a police officer who he mistook for a burglar during a questionable drug raid.

The story just gets more complicated all the time, but if one thing remains clear, it’s that the entire case against Frederick is a sham. The loss of life is regrettable indeed, but it is the result of shoddy drug war policing, not premeditated cop-killing by Frederick.

Another Cop Killed in a Drug Raid

This has the makings of another potential paramilitary drug raid legal drama:

An FBI agent was killed early yesterday near Pittsburgh during a raid on the home of a suspected cocaine dealer, who was taken into custody along with his wife. Federal officials later reported that the woman was being charged with the shooting.
…
A lawyer for the couple said Christina Korbe faces homicide charges in connection with Hicks's death, three Pittsburgh television stations reported. Station KDKA quoted lawyer Sumner Parker as saying the Korbes may have believed they were the victims of a home invasion. Federal officials said Christina Korbe was being held by state authorities in connection with the killing.

As he was led away in handcuffs from the Allegheny County police headquarters yesterday, Robert Korbe blamed the shooting on other law enforcement officers.

"They shot their own guy," he told reporters. "I didn't shoot him." [Washington Post]

We just don’t have enough facts at this point, but if this turns out to be another case of a confused suspect mistaking police for burglars (or police shooting each other), then it’s something we’ll be discussing in more detail very soon.
 
Whether it’s a police officer or a suspect, it’s just tragic that so many lives continue to be lost during aggressive drug raids. I agree with Radley Balko who asks why Robert Korbe couldn’t have been arrested outside the home. Busting into people’s houses at 6:00 in the morning is a prescription for disaster. If police can’t find a safer way to do these raids, they need to look harder.