Posted on 04/03/2013 6:30:02 AM PDT by Altariel
A Leawood couple says heavily armed Johnson County deputies barged into their home last year, turning it upside down and detaining them and their children for more than two hours in a fruitless search for marijuana.
“This is how we were awakened: banging, pounding, screaming,” the mother, Adlynn Harte, said Friday. “My husband opened the door right before the battering ram was set to take it out.”
The father allegedly was forced to lie shirtless on the foyer while a deputy with an assault rifle stood over him. The children, a 7-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy, reportedly came out of their bedrooms terrified, the teenager with his hands in the air.
And all because the couple, Robert and Adlynn Harte, bought indoor gardening equipment to grow a small number of tomato and squash plants in their basement, according to a lawsuit filed this week. The equipment was never used for marijuana, the couple says, and no one in the family has ever used illegal drugs.
Nearly a year after the SWAT-style raid, the Hartes still don’t know what evidence deputies used to persuade a judge to grant a warrant to search their home in the 10300 block of Wenonga Lane on April 20. Their requests for records that could provide such information have been denied by the sheriff’s office.
The lawsuit filed Thursday asks the court to order the release of the records. The information revealed could be used in a federal civil rights lawsuit.
“You can’t send out the SWAT team because people are trying to grow tomatoes in their basement,” Robert Harte told The Star.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
are you flippin kidding me? Most conservatives say if people want to destroy themselves with the depravity of drug abuse, let them
I hope you're right about that - but there is a vocal contingent, perhaps a minority, on FR that brays support for the War on Drugs (although they're oddly absent from threads like this one).
A few recent examples:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3003133/posts?page=25#25
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3002958/posts?page=53#53
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3003184/posts?page=15#15
I always do. it really can be an intersting hobby. you'd be amazed at what can be grown in in this manner. Water gardens that rival the amazon jungle
“You are right. The police are not the bad guys here. It is either the judge or people who lied to the judge.”
My guess is that they have a “warrant factory” and that it is the police that filled out the warrant application, based solely on some blanket warrants that gather credit card purchases of “drug paraphenalia.”
If that is the case, then it IS the cops that lied to the judge. In addition, the judge is culpable because he/she is nothing more than a rubber stamp.
“If I were to go raid a drug dealer’s house,”
How about if you go raid a non-dealer’s house?
I would be a cop. Not a judge or a court. I would be the cop who is handed the warrant to go in a search and secure a residence that is suspected of drug activity. That would be my job. My job would not be to question the warrant or to gather information that detectives should gather. I am a member of a squad that has a job to carry out warrants.... whatever the warrant says. In this case, it is to secure a residence where suspected drug activities are taking place. I am not going into a suspected drug dealer’s house with a slingshot. I am going in locked, loaded and armoured. Once I have done my job and secured the house and the occupants, I hand it over to detectives and prosecutors. My job is done.
But acccording to the warrant in my hand, it reads: SUSPECTED ILLEGAL DRUG OPERATIONS.
“My job would not be to question the warrant or to gather information that detectives should gather.”
That attitude will one day get American conservatives and Christians killed.
Don’t question the warrant. Believe everything you’re told. Don’t verify for yourself.
Moreover, it is the cops who were attempting to ram down the man’s door.
Not many hardened drug dealers, I expect, would open the door for intruders attempting to barge in.
“””Don’t question the warrant. Believe everything you’re told. Don’t verify for yourself”””
Yes, exactly. From the cop’s point of view. From the task force’s point of view. Yes.
You have to understand, I am talking about the cops that busted down the door. No, they do not question a warrant. They do their job and bust down the door.
Detectives, prosecutors, DAs, ADAs, attorneys, Judges... they question the warrants, as well they should. All warrants should be questioned. I am not disputing that.
The cop that busts down the door follows orders. His superiors tell him to bust down a door and secure a 5403620100house, he does it. He follows orders.
Say I was on a SWAT team and I was their sniper. (let’s just say) And we responded to a crisis downtown. Lets say I am on a rooftop looking through my scope looking for a hooded black male. I spot the alledged perp, confirming twice and a third time that I have IDed the right individual. I relay that I have said perp in sight and standing by. I get confirmation from my superior to take the shot. I shoot.
I did not ask to see the warrant. I did not ask to see the details of the detective’s files. I did not talk to a judge or a DA. I got on the roof and did what I was trained to do.
Now, my superiors all the way up the ladder have the onus to make sure my instructions were justified. But my job is done.
You do realize that “I was just doing what I was told to do” is the favorite excuse of foot soldiers of Statist tyranny throughout the millennia.
Men who fear God do not use that excuse, because they know they answer to an even higher authority than The State.
“I would be the cop who is handed the warrant to go in a search and secure a residence that is suspected of drug activity. That would be my job. My job would not be to question the warrant or to gather information that detectives should gather. I am a member of a squad that has a job to carry out warrants.... whatever the warrant says.”
Sounds familiar.
-snip-
(Newser) – A former Nazi hitman on trial in Germany confessed to killing three Dutch civilians but offered prosecutors a familiar excuse. “As a simple soldier, I learned to carry out orders,” Heinrich Boere told the court. “And I knew that if I didn’t carry out my orders I would be breaking my oath and would be shot myself.”
Boere, a Dutchman who volunteered to join the SS, carried out the killings as part of a death squad and fled to Germany after the war. “At no time in 1944 did I act with the feeling that I was committing a crime,” Boere said. “Today, after 65 years, I naturally see things from a different perspective.” Boere, 88, could face a life sentence if found guilty, the BBC reports.
http://www.newser.com/story/75739/ex-nazi-i-was-just-following-orders.html
The store employees are probably paid a commission to report such cash transactions, and will forward the customer's pic from the security cam, as well as a pic of the customer's car's license plate from the outside security cam.
That’s why I always wear a mask, walk (with a distinct limp) to the store, and use cash.
Or patronize a store near a bus stop, parking your car a few stops away.
We’ve only got one store around here, and public transportation is practically non-existent in Tidewater Va
I have 3 hydroponic growing machines. Up until this past winter, they sat out in the open in my home growing cherry tomatoes, mini sweet red peppers, bok choy or lettuce. I just got a bit tired of it this past winter and while the machines are out, they are not in production. I bought all 3 (plus a spare still in its box), lights, fertilizer, etc w/a credit card between 2008-2010. I even bought some fertilizers from a site that apparently caters to pot growers as well as vegetable growers.
I have had countless people in my home, all of whom saw and commented on my hobby. They included a former police chief and fire chief, a current town policeman and a couple of current Sheriff’s Deputies. The policeman’s wife also grows veggies hydroponically.
No one batted an eye. These are innocent, legal items for sale in many places, including Ace Hardware. Hydroponics is a popular hobby. Everything in the world is available for purchase via credit or debit card. Ironically, paying cash, these days, is supposedly a Fusion Center red flag.
FWIW, there is no reason to be constantly on the defensive about everything that *someone* could misconstrue. I’ll not live my life as though I am a criminal just because some over-zealous nit wit decides that perfectly legal behavior is suspect.
Glad these people sued. I would, as well.
You do realize that “I was just doing what I was told to do” is the favorite excuse of foot soldiers of Statist tyranny throughout the millennia.
<><><><><
And used by all the military forces that brought down Nazism.
There were no focus groups held regarding orders to storm the beaches of Normandy. They had orders. They followed them.
That’s a good idea but how do you get your phone out of your pocket without a cop shooting you?
What is this “constitution” you speak of?
paying cash, these days, is supposedly a Fusion Center red flag.
********************
everything is a red flag if they want it to be...
A document conservatives used to support - until they decided it was more important to wage war on disapproved recreational chemicals. (I'll drink to that!</s>)
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