Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Suit over reality TV filming warrantless SWAT raid will go forward

A federal judge has concluded that portions of a lawsuit may go forward over allowing reality TV cameras to film a botched 2011 SWAT raid in Montgomery County. The video was released as part of the reality show "Texas Takedown."

The officers allegedly fudged the search warrant affidavit: "After searching the residence and allegedly finding marijuana plants, the officers wrote a misleading affidavit to get a search warrant, which arrived about 12:30 a.m. the next morning." The suit alleges that DA Brett Ligon and his first assistant advised officers by phone to enter the home without a warrant. If true, maybe that needs to be the subject of a state bar grievance.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good. I'm pleased to see this moving forward. In the interest of charity, I'm willing to believe that Constable Hayden is well-meaning in his efforts to "clean up" east Montgomery County, but his methods are unprofessional at best and criminal at worst. That he permitted a videographer to record these activities makes one wonder what he and his deputies are willing to do when no cameras are around.

Anonymous said...

This needs to move forward. There are too many recent additions to the prison population out of Montgomery County, non-violent drug offenders serving excessive sentences in comparison to rulings on similar crimes out of other counties.

"Cleaning up" the county shouldn't mean dramatic raids without warrants or Maximum Bob type sentences. I'm glad they taped it. I would have sprayed it all over YouTube months ago

Anonymous said...

What two counties were specifically modeled on the old "John Bradley Williamson County Way"? Montgomery and McLennan. What two counties seem to crop up over and over with knuckleheaded moves in the news? If you build a house on a bad foundation.....