Posted on 02/11/2014 8:55:45 AM PST by Oldpuppymax
In December of last year, members of the Burleson County, Texas SWAT team executed a pre-dawn, no-knock warrant by breaking through the door of Henry Goedrich Magee’s mobile home. Believing criminals to have broken in, Magee picked up a rifle positioned near his bedroom door and fired, killing county Sheriff’s Deputy Adam Sowders. Charged with capital murder, Magee faced the prospect of either life in prison without parole or death by lethal injection.
On February 5th, “…the 21st Judicial District Grand Jury returned a No Bill on Capital Murder charges against Henry Goedrick Magee.” That is, the Grand Jury refused to indict Magee for capital murder, deciding there was...
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
Note to self: Don’t bash through someone’s door late at night without introducing myself first. I might get justifiably shot.
SWAT Teams? Militarization of Law Enforcement?
Prescriptions for more of this.
Should they have arrested and charged this guy? Well that depends on other evidence, but probably.
Evidently the Grand Jury decided the use of force was unjustified. Now that does fall back on the individual who actually issued the “no knock” warrant.
The cops went in cocked and locked and it cost one of their own his life.
It’s as if police departments have shiny new toys and they can’t wait to use them.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. And completely unnecessary. No one’s life was in danger. A couple of cops in a car could have just waited for him to go to the store. But no, they have to go in balls to the wall because they’re the police and they go anywhere they want at any time. Why? Just to show that they can. And in Texas, too. That was really smart.
What if the tip had been worthless? What if they had been busting into the wrong trailer? This wasn’t a terrorist cell. It was a guy with a bunch of weed. Did he deserve to go to jail? Yep. But not for shooting the cop in the dark.
Memo to Grand Jury Members:
Stay out of Burleson. The blues will be looking for you.
There should have been no arrest, no prosecution, no trial!!!!!
When the cops break into the ‘wrong’ house and shoot the old deaf guy with a TV remote that they call a gun they are not arrested prosecuted or tried!
Fed up with fascism.
Another victim of the WOD.
Correct on all things you said.
Remember, David Koresh? The police could have nabbed him numerous times as he went into town for supplies. Instead, they tried to do a raid on his compound with disastrous results during the raid and after the siege. SWAT should only be used where armed resistance has already happened or is likely to occur. I don’t know how frequent the police use “no knocks”, but I suspect it is far too frequent.
The guy was really into weed? Why haven’t we heard from Obammer on this one then? This guy could have also been one of Barack’s sons if he loves weed so well! We may need a new executive order to arm weed users against sheriff’s deputies because these weed-lovers are potentially sons of Obammer.
In this case, a misdemeanor offender was waken in the middle of the night by having his door bashed in. I doubt his first thought was, "It's the police wanting my bag of pot!". That the man lives in a trailer that can be surrounded and staked out is the obvious evidence of complete failure in the decision and issuance of a "no-knock" warrant.
I can only surmise that the over zealous LEO are looking for reasons to use their expensive toys. In this case it got an officer killed. And Texans seem to understand the issue (at least at the grand jury level).
Remember, David Koresh?
********
Interesting you mention Koresh. McGee is being represented by Dick DeGuerin,
the same attorney that represented Koresh.
Really really surprised that that guy lived to tell his side of the story to a grand jury.
Calm down there Hoss. Read the whole post. There was no prosecution for murder, not even an indictment, and no trial for that crime. Magee was justifiably charged with possession of weed. He is not a deaf old man with a remote watching TV. He is a drug dealer. As the report said:
the Burleson County Sheriff’s Office would not have been there that day if Mr. Magee had not decided to live a lifestyle of doing and producing illegal drugs in his home. Therefore, we will fully prosecute the drug charges against him.
I am not saying the cops were justified in their approach; this sort of thing has to stop. One way to reduce the chances of this happening to you is do not deal dope out of your trailer.
Just for good measure the guy should trespass onto the late deputy’s property and shoot his dog for barking.
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