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:
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.
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.
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