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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

We Aren’t the Only Ones Fed Up with No-Knock Raids

posted by on April 15 at 13:49 PM

I was ranting about them last week and Dan de-glorified them this morning. Now the Georgia Supreme Court is on the case.

Georgia’s top court is considering a case brought by two murder suspects who argue they shouldn’t face the death penalty because they didn’t know the intruder they shot and killed was a police officer using a special warrant.

The Georgia Supreme Court’s ruling could change the way police use special warrants - known as “no knock warrants” - that are intended to prevent suspects from getting rid of evidence and to protect officers from potentially violent suspects.

It comes as lawmakers, police officers and judges consider tighter restrictions on the warrants in the wake of another botched raid that left a 92-year-old Atlanta woman dead and three police officers injured.

Antron Dawayne Fair and Damon Antwon Jolly face the death penalty for the 2006 killing of Bibb County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Whitehead. Whitehead was the first of nine undercover agents to raid the Macon home around 1 a.m. on March 23, 2006 using the special warrants.

At the top of the list of what’s wrong with the drug war has got to be cops dying senseless deaths. Sending officers to barge into someone’s house in the middle of the night is begging for a gun to be pulled (by a resident who doesn’t know it’s a cop). If a gun is pulled, the officer pretty much has to shoot. So either the cop gets shot or a resident is shot before proven guilty. There may be a time and place for no-knock raids, but suspected nonviolent drug-law violations shouldn’t make the cut.

RSS icon Comments

1

...as the cops say, "so much for the good 'ol days."

Posted by Mr. Poe | April 15, 2008 2:04 PM
2

I would say innocent civilians dying senseless deaths is worse than cops dying senseless deaths. After all, they signed up for it. The unwitting victim of an incorrect-address no-knock raid did not.

Posted by oljb | April 15, 2008 2:22 PM
3

Seems you have the order messed up... The court PRECEDED ya'll in this.

Posted by meks | April 15, 2008 2:23 PM
4

I hate to point out the obvious here, but most people shot by police are shot before proven guilty.

We don't shoot guilty people in this country. We hang them, inject them or electrocute them.

Posted by 8blockwalk | April 15, 2008 2:33 PM
5

I was tackled by undercover cops while walking at night through a park (they thought they smelled marijuana, and decided to run and tackle me from behind just in case). I fought like hell, as I thought I was being raped/mugged. They didn't like that very much and threw me in jail for the night. Why the hell to cops expect to be treated with the respect and deference cops "deserve" when they are not identifiable as cops? WHAT IDIOTS.

Posted by ams | April 15, 2008 2:34 PM
6

In some states we have nifty castle laws that make it ok to shoot first and ask questions later. What happens if the cops bust down your door and you blast 'em? Assuming you don't get killed, aren't you within the law killing a cop for busting into your house?

Posted by AK Rob | April 15, 2008 2:37 PM
7

so obvious here, drugs or no drugs barge into someone's house in the middle of the night and you are liable to get shot.

Posted by JR Ewing of Seattle | April 15, 2008 3:29 PM
8

It seems unlikely if these men were "nonviolent" they wouldn't have a gun readily available to use as soon as someone came pouring through the door.

The Death Penalty is extreme, for sure, but those raids happen so fast, the gun was probably right on the table. Unfortunately, violence is often associated with the drug trade because it is unregulated.

Posted by Notecarder | April 15, 2008 3:39 PM
9

@6 well, then you have the problem of whether or not they identified themselves as police. often there is dispute over this issue. but in a no-knock, how could that even happen?

@8 there was recently a case where a guy was robbed, bought a gun, and then a neighbor reported his japanese maple as a pot plant. the police came bursting in, and he shot and killed one of them. he's on trial for murder now.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle_blog/2008/feb/04/a_cop_is_dead_because_an_informa

http://www.globalvillageidiots.com/2008/03/20/japanese-maple-or-marijuana-youre-dead-if-you-cant-tell-the-difference/

Posted by infrequent | April 15, 2008 4:00 PM
10

Call it an unfair generalization, @8, but I don't get the impression that folks in South who have guns on hand are a slim minority of the population. Just having a gun doesn't constitute a violent offense.

Posted by Dominic Holden | April 15, 2008 4:02 PM
11

It seems so simple. Which is the less desirable outcome: a shootout resulting in serious injury or death or a suspected drug user or dealer flushing some evidence down the toilet? What is it about cops that they can't figure out the right answer to that one?

Posted by Smade | April 15, 2008 5:00 PM
12

"There may be a time and place for no-knock raids, but suspected nonviolent drug-law violations shouldn’t make the cut."

The fact that anyone, anywhere has any doubt about this statement is appalling.

Posted by Matthew | April 15, 2008 5:12 PM

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