Phoenix police raid home of blogger whose writing is highly critical of them

CarlosMiller.com ^ | 2 April, 2009 | Carlos Miller

[JimRed]

...all these good cops started hitting the site and sending us tips.

Good cops, or disruptors posing as good cops? That is one problem with the net; posters can claim to be almost anything.

That does not make the confiscation of his equipment right, nor explain a warrant issued upon such (apparently) thin evidence, but it is a question that needs answering.

[Big_Harry]

"Scary stuff, a police raid of a police critic."

What is scary to me is that this guy seems to be hanging out there on his own. Where are the Phoenix area patriots that should be vocally protesting this perceived violation of his Constitutional rights?

The survival of our country is going to depend on people that are not afraid to stand up for their neighbors. In every community we need to organize into cell groups so that on a pre-arranged signal we can rush a dozen or more "peaceful" witnesses to the home of a member that is being threatened or detained. Thuggery cannot succeed if it has to operate in the light of public scrutiny.

[TLI]

Not if they can plant some child porn on his hard drives.

Bingo. You get an A.

[CaptainAmiigaf]

I hope that you will come to know that many of us who post to DEFEND the police WHEN WE FEEL THEY ARE CORRECT, will be even FASTER to post CONDEMNING them when they are as obviously WRONG as in THIS CASE.
This case calls for suspensions, investigations NOT CARRIED out by locals, and some real sharp lawyers.
In fact, historically, this is one of the reasons the American Civil Liberties Union claimed justified its existence.
If I was on a jury, this man would end up as sole owner of the entire city.

[SouthernBoyupNorth]

County cops got nothing to do with city cops.... don’t get the 2 confused

[cripplecreek]

The democrats are going after Sheriff Joe and this guy seems more than happy to help them out. A bit of quick googling seems to indicate a lot of far left support for Pataky.

The only “evidence” I’m seeing here is this guy’s say so.

[cripplecreek]

What is scary to me is that this guy seems to be hanging out there on his own. Where are the Phoenix area patriots that should be vocally protesting this perceived violation of his Constitutional rights?

You mean guys like John Conyers?

[YOUGOTIT]

The SS and the KGB are in full play and it will get worse unless you are a left winger. Since they have his computer and all his backup files, I would expect that they will put things on his hard drive that will put him in jail for a long time. I would expect that they will take on the talk radio folks soon.

[Pearls Before Swine]

"... an unaccredited grassroots Web site..."

And just WHO "accredits" web sites? Without taking any position on the details of the case, I find that phrase from the Assistant DA grabbing my attention.

[Red_Devil 232]

Fourth Paragraph Dow:

Maricopa County Judge Gary Donahoe signed the search warrant that allowed at least ten cops to raid his home in North Phoenix on March 12 while handcuffing his female roommate for three hours as they tore the place apart.

[stockpirate]

So it starts.

Watching the history channel on the Gestopo I learned that most of them came from positions within various police departments. And the former police officers were the biggest abusers of power.

My belief is the same will hold true here in the US.

Obama’s National Police Force will be made up of former police officers from around the country.

Home Security officers are being trained by SWAT teams in urban tactical tactics, ie searching homes room by room.

Soon to come in our own home towns.

Will Americans shot police officers forcing entry into their homes?

[Big_Harry]

I mean guys like your next door neighbor and the one down the street and around the corner. Unless "we the people" start making it our personal business when governmental encroachments on our liberties occur, we will lose them.

[LachlanMinnesota]

If they do the correct analysis of his hard drive, this may be a blessing in disguise in at least a few respects. They will be able to prove or disprove the existence of the communications made with him or communications made by him with some high degree of certainty.

He will either prove he was not harassing his ex and was not stealing information or not.

To bad if there were real cops sending info to him though, because they will be located too.

Non of that excuses a warrant without probable cause though, so I would like to see the affidavit that supported the probable cause.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Maricopa County? Sheriff Joe?

No, this is City of Phoenix.

It's stuff like this that makes people disrespect the law. When the people charged with enforcing the law hold it in contempt, why should anyone else honour it, or the "enforcers"?

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Will Americans shot police officers forcing entry into their homes?

This one will.

[Lucky Dog]

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

A magistrate issued a warrant in this case. To justify such an action, there are at least two questions to be answered in this situation.

First, the magistrate is obligated to answer the question as whether the allegation constitutes a serious violation of criminal law. Most requests for warrants, I’m told, include a “chapter and verse” citation of the particular law that justifies the search.

It would seem that the magistrate may have erred in this aspect: The allegation of “petty theft” against Pataky stem from photos he posted on his blog of police name plates that appear to have been taken from within the department. Petty theft concerning photos which do not otherwise violate any law might support a subpoena, but, of itself, hardly seems to be a valid justification for a search warrant. However, there was a second infraction alleged.

Criminal harassment is a potentially serious allegation if it involves a likely potential for escalation beyond, either, mere inconvenience to, or the creation of unwanted publicity of, a specific individual or individuals. Again, is seems that the magistrate may have erred. The allegation of “computer tampering with the intent to harass” obviously has to do with his no holds barred criticism of the department. It is hard to see how the above allegation could involve escalation to something more than inconvenience. Nevertheless, one must bow to the judgment of the party on the scene, the magistrate, absent some evidence of corruption or incompetence.

Unfortunately, there is another issue, whether the warrant issuance was, in deed, supported by probable cause. The Fourth Amendment requires oaths describing what or who is to be searched for and potentially seized. In this case, screen captures of name plates could have been presented. However, one would also suppose that the magistrate would have required oaths that these pictures were evidence of computer tampering or were used in some harassing manner. Unfortunately, that information was left out of the report. However, it is rather hard to imagine how such could have been the case.

In short, based only upon the evidence presented in the article, the search appears to be a violation of the blogger’s constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Sounds to me like this “blogger” may be working for lord zero.

Sure....and he probably has child pr0n or illicit drug transaction records on his hard drive....or he will after the PPD plants them there.

[nufsed]

Your clear explanation of this issue is an example of why I came to FR and stay here.

[Lucky Dog]

Thanks...

[freekitty]

Keep standing. If these guys are dirty; they need to be held accountable.