A Burleson County grand jury ruled Henry Magee acted in self defense when he shot and killed a Sheriff's deputy during a SWAT raid on his home based on an informant's misinformed testimony. Turned out, he had a pair of six-inch pot plants in the house, not the large-scale grow the informant had claimed. He will still be prosecuted on drug and weapons charges, says the local DA. See Radley Balko for more.
The episode may portend changes both in public perceptions about personal use levels of marijuana as well as unjustified deployment of no-knock raids. The Bryan College Station Eagle's editorial board called the grand jury "courageous" for their decision, opining that "there was no reason to employ a no-knock warrant on the home of Hank
Magee. Officers could have knocked and waited for him to answer. They
could have waited until he left his home. There was no advantage in not
waiting, in not knocking."
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30 comments:
"An informant had told Deputy Adam Sowders that Magee was running a major marijuana grow. They’d find 12-14 plants, all over six fee tall, the informant said. Magee also had, according to the informant, a vicious dog and several guns, one of which had been stolen from the Burleson County Sheriff’s Department."
This is the information (incorrect it turns out) that law enforcement was working with. Isn't the situation described above the exact type of case where a no-knock warrant should be used?
Rather than a no-knock, I would think this would be a great case for grabbing him off-site, not attacking a fortified position. Don't LEOs use common sense?
Beyond that, in the interest of LEO professionalism, shouldn't the informant be sanctioned and the shop guys who operated him spend a year or two working traffic or clerical duties to sharpen up their people skills? Or just fired and lose their commissions. They got played by a loser and got a fellow officer killed. Their supervisors ought to be replaced. Even the judge who rubber-stamped this goat-rodeo ought to resign and become an effective defense lawyer.
Instead, NOTHING will be done except the system will enact revenge on the idiot with two tiny pot plants- the kind the current Governor of Texas just said we ought to start thinking about legalizing.
Can't anybody here PLAY this game?
@7:44, you assume that was their only option, but it wasn't. No knock raids are way overused.
Perhaps they could have sought corroboration for the informant's information, which as you say all turned out to be a lie. Or perhaps they could have waited outside the house for the guy to come out and arrested him without incident.
Really, though, as in most instances, it would have turned out fine if they'd just surrounded the place and knocked on the door. It's one thing to grow pot, quite another to shoot a cop. Doubtful he would have done so if the officers had announced themselves. There's no cost-benefit analysis that would justify it from the suspect's perspective, even if there were 12-14 large plants instead of two small ones.
Cops often think because they have SWAT teams and all this fancy equipment they paid for they must use them to justify them. There are circumstances, though, and this is one of them, where using common sense would be more beneficial than charging in like a bunch of commandos.
They should have crashed the door with a "bearcat" or tank. No casualties, no dog bites. Sounds to me like the author would like law enforcement to send a candygram to drug dealers with an appointment date to search the premises.
@9:11, there would also have been no casualties or dog bites if they'd waited outside for the guy to come out of the house and arrested him there, then searched the house. No appointment or candygram required, just a little planning and common sense.
Using SWAT teams to execute search warrants is a recent phenomenon. As demonstrated in this case, though, even if it's trendy in police circles, sometimes it creates more problems than it solves.
Justice served.
Something doesn't smell right.
1)Dick Deguerin was retained in this case in less than 12 hours after the raid, who paid for his services?
2)The district attorney is quoted as saying she presented the case to grand jurors without a recommendation for charges. Either she's a close friend of the family or she graduated law school with Dick.
I suspect Magee's family is a wealthy and well-connected to the local political machinery. Had Magee not had a wealthy benefactor who engaged the services of Deguerin, he would have been indicted and a place readied for him in Livingston.
@11:34 - So the thing that doesn't "smell right" is that the guy had resources to hire a good lawyer? #argumentFAIL
Not at all. This outcome had never before occurred anyplace in the country and I'm just saying not to expect this type of outcome again. In fact, what this did was to virtually guarantee that anyone who kills an officer during future raids will be killed on the spot.
What outcome are you talking about, 2:10? Do you mean no cop has never been killed in a no-knock raid? Of they were, capital murder charges were always filed? Both those claims are wrong. Usually people who kill police officers in raids, or even shoot at them, are already killed on the spot, so it's unlikely this will change anything at all.
This sad incident is just one more indictment against drug prohibition. One man is dead and another may be looking at a prison sentence and for what? Growing some plants.
The culprit here is the dynamic "no knock" or "knock, announce, crash the door" entry that came into being due to the drug laws. Retail illicit drug dealers and drug users rarely had large quantities of drugs on hand in their residences. This means they could easily dispose of their stash via the toilet or fireplace while police waited a minute or two at the door before being let in to serve the search warrant.
Frustrated by this situation, police and prosecutors lobbied for policy changes that would allow police to immediately enter a property as soon as they knocked and/or announced their presence, foregoing the centuries old custom of waiting until the resident has had a reasonable amount of time to answer.
Essentially policy makers, through their actions, have demonstrated that the safety of both the police and the suspects is secondary to securing the evidence. They cared little that they were casting aside the way search warrants had been served for centuries. This LEO is dead due to their short-sightedness.
Peaceful activities that don't violate the rights of others should never be considered crimes and it is immoral to call them such. Remember, in this drug war it wasn't the drugs that declared war in the first place. Rather it was brought about by high-minded puritans who get the vapors if someone, somewhere, is doing something fun that doesn't fit inside their rather narrow definitions of morality.
Beware the moral authoritarians. They are quite adept at turning peaceful actions into crimes. They will throw you in gulags, gas chambers, or prisons if you don't tow their line.
This case and the shooting death case of DPD officer Norm Smith are indicative of the "castle defense."
Just my opinion though.
This was a good day for the American homeowner. When a flashbang grenade goes off at 3am in your home your first instinct is to defend your home and family from an intruder. It could not be the police because they haven't been called and would have identified themselves. It will teach all people including the police the inherent danger of violently attacking American homeowners in their castles at 3am.
The cop deserved what he got. Hopefully it will teach the rest of the cops a lesson. Don't screw with American homeowners.
One other thought; you would think the implementation of the "castle doctrine" by the Texas lege would have given all Texas LE reason to reconsider there no knock entries.
The situation was not dangerous or violent until the cops came to the home and made it that way.
This reminds me of the battle of Saratoga won by American homeowners against an invading army.
Amen to The Unknown Pundit.
To the LE troll posting anonymously and attacking the homeowner for hiring a lawyer, it is a pity it wasn't you. Your kind disgust me because you believe you have some moral authority to invade homes and bend the constitution, but when the constitution works to protect citizens, you think something dirty has gone down. Any thug who crashes into a home under color of law and in derogation of a man's right to protect himself should expect to be shot. This is not a one-time event. It is a signal that citizens are sick of police abuse. SWAT teams in every rural department; shake-down civil forfeiture operations aka highway robbery; lying to drivers and others to conduct searches -- you are the thugs.
What are police officers saying about this?
Find out here: http://www.policeone.com/drug-interdiction-narcotics/articles/6815003-No-murder-charge-for-man-who-fatally-shot-Texas-deputy/
When injustice becomes law resistance becomes duty.
I posted a sign made from a 4 by 8 piece of plywood next to my front door -
Warning! Unauthorized Entry or Breaking into the home behind this sign will definitely be harmful to your health. We will not administer first aide due to legal reasons. You've been warned.
Those wishing to entry peacefully are encouraged to take a seat on the porch, waive at the camera, and call - BR-549.
Grits, it says weapons charges. What can you tell us about these weapons?
*It seems to be in the plural.
I've been reading and following Radley Balko for years, and have read his recent book on this topic. The "no bill" by the grand jury is the absolute best result, short of not having been presented to any grand jury at all. "No knock" raids are a symptom of a police state and totalitarianism. They are, without exception, violations of both natural and common law. It is not tragic that this jack booted thug who asked for a type of warrant he didn't need was removed form the gene pool. It is only tragic that his buddies survived their illegal home invasion. Real justice would have been the entire crew of criminal home invaders planted, with the homeowner given a ticker tape parade by his fellow citizens. This case has been far too long in coming. Hopefully the bullies in uniform and petty tyrant judges pay attention, because if the pendulum does not return to an equilibrium of freedom from state tyranny, we're going to see a lot more thugs eating soil for dessert after a lead main course. I'd like to nominate Henry Magee for the "Henry Bowman" honorary award for doing what was right. Henry Magee is an American hero.
Whooooa. Before some asshole (Fake CDL) starts up his stopwatch counting down the minutes it took someone to reply to the ant-law enforcement comments, allow me.
For the damn record. We have a very long and documented history of witnessing a shitload of bad acts performed by rogue elements of various law enforcement agencies and backed up by adas, judges, handpicked jurors, etc...
Eventually someone shoots the bad guy and this time it was a bad cop or a good cop just following orders. Despite the reason for invading, a human was killed and just happened to be a cop.
The majority of cops are not bad people, but the majority are their very own worst enemy due to agreeing to join a gang that has a secret handshake and un written rule of complying with a blue wall of silence if and when they witness a crime committed by another cop.
The very notion of being privy to crimes committed by fellow cops and not reporting it is a preplanned crime in itself. Conspiring is a crime. This incident was a preplanned crime involving numerous individuals and there are now 8 survivors that have only their boss to blame. But they are conditioned to blame the homeowner. Savy citizens will not forget about the police impersonators both in vehicles and raiding homes. Anyone entering a home without being let in is susceptible to getting shot, bitten or killed by the homeowner neighbor or a cop riding by thinking he's witnessing a crime in progress.
People with a past involving bad cops that read this story will be ripe for leaving anti-cop comments that level them all as bad and need to be dealt with. I ask you to reconsider that thought and redirect your energy to the City counsel, Mayor and PD Chief vs a blog post rant that makes the entire GFB readership vulnerable for attack or labeled as criminals as the constant commenter does on a weekly basis.
So there crisis averted, stop watch count down prevented so the asshole with a egg timer can concentrate on the clients he dupes. And anyone with an ax to grind can consider taking their pent up anger directly to the sources instead of blog comment sections where it will not help anyone.
Sorry, Magee does not qualify for hero status.
He's just a homeowner that grew some weed and had one of his enemies narc him out for reasons unknown at this time. He protected his family and home like anyone would (weed or no weed).
The person they utilized as an informant is 50% responsible for the outcome. The police department leader is 25% responsible for the outcome. The judge that issued the warrant is 25% responsible for the outcome. But self imposed immunity clauses trump it all.
Let the law suites begin and let the taxpayers of Burleson settle out of court like it didn't even happen. Rinse & Repeat. Money will be thrown around and everyone will forget about it and the dead cop will become a hero and a symbol to never leave any living suspects when they dare defend themselves.
Often in small agencies, the SWAT team doesn't get much used. So when they have the opportunity, it's "all out warfare". After all, lots of tax dollars used to purchase special uniforms, equipment, radios, guns ... etc.
No-knock warrants are dangerous for everyone, both suspects AND police, and should only be employed when credible intelligence can be verified.
Send in the informants first ahead of the jackboots during a no knock..flashbang..battering ram..armored car (now free STRYKER vehicles).raid. It might end the embellished info squeezed out of creeps who also have cases pending. Might end the erroneous address infomation also.
How many home invasions have we seen whereby the criminals yell, "Police!" Happens all the time.
@2:38, you said "After all, lots of tax dollars used to purchase special uniforms, equipment, radios, guns ... etc."
Not tax dollars. Civil asset forteiture under Ch. 59. Highway robberty by pirates sporting badges.
I see this as a demonstration of how poorly a Drug unit handle a cooperting individual into duping them into believing this was a major grow operation. Seems as if the crook snitch duped the cops and duped his foe into dying. A drug informant pulling the strings and taking out his enemies at the expense of the lae enforcment people, one of whom was killed. These poeple lie for a living, especially to get their own asses out of trouble. The bigger the potential score, the biger the lie. He probably got a 20K bonus for his work that night. Now he gets to set up another dupe bust for another 20K. He's the head person in charge of narco-terrorism it seems. Hell, where do I sign up for that kind of money. I'll point the finger, you guys just pull the trigger.
WHy do local yokels feel the need to perform high powered rile, bullet proof vest, flash bang grenandes and "Zero Dark Thirty" tactics on search warrants? Very very very very few are justified. Thank you justice
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