no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murder

Discussion in 'Freedom and Liberty' started by MbRodge, Jun 5, 2008.


  1. MbRodge

    MbRodge Monkey+++

    One more example of our eroding freedom. This could easily be one of us who has a greenhouse or an indoor fishtank vegetable/herb terrarium.

    http://athousandcuts.org/2008/06/04/tragedy-and-injustice-in-chesapeake/?



    Not surprisingly, Ryan Frederick was indicted by a grand jury yesterday for capital murder:
    A Chesapeake grand jury indicted the 28-year-old Portlock man Tuesday on charges of capital murder, use of a firearm during the commission of murder and manufacturing marijuana. Frederick is accused of “willfully, deliberately and premeditatedly” killing Detective Jarrod Shivers the night of Jan. 17 while Shivers and more than a dozen other officers executed a drug search warrant.
    Keep in mind, prosecutors hadn’t sought a capital murder charge against Frederick; the grand jury upgraded it from first-degree murder. The more serious charge means the state can seek the death penalty against Frederick.

    So many things have gone wrong with this case from the outset:
    • The warrant was served on a tip that Frederick was running a massive pot-growing operation in his garage, but all the police found was a small amount of marijuana and no plants. However, Frederick, an avid amateur gardener, did have some young Japanese maples growing under lights, which do bear some resemblance to marijuana plants.
    • Frederick’s home had been broken into just a few days before the police raid.
    • Oh, and the informant whose tip led to the warrant? He committed the burglary on Frederick’s home. He also had credit card fraud charges pending against him, which were dropped just days before the raid.
    So based on information from a guy who broke into Frederick’s house and was facing jail time, the police busted in on the home of a man with no criminal record and had just dealt with a burglary, and the end result is a dead cop and another man facing lethal injection.
    Radley Balko summarizes more absurdities from the DA’s office:
    Special Prosecutor Paul Ebert pushed the unlikely theory yesterday that Frederick looked out his window, saw several police officers about to break into his home, heard them announce themselves as police, decided to shoot and kill just one of them, then surrendered. This is a guy who friends, former employers, neighbors and family describe as harmless and unconfrontational to the point of being meek. The idea that he’d knowingly kill a cop over a few joints is absurd.
    Frederick had a job he enjoyed, a record of steady employment and strong recommendations from supervisors, and he’d just gotten engaged. Again, hardly the profile of a cop killer with a death wish.
    The felony marijuana charge is even less comprehensible, apparently hinging on the fact that the police found equipment which can be used for indoor marijuana growing operations. Just as a wire coat hanger can be used to break into a car, I suppose. Does that make us all guilty of conspiracy to commit auto theft?
    The police performed little due diligence on their tip about Frederick: no controlled buys to determine if he was dealing, no observation of unusual traffic or activity in front of his house. Their background check revealed only traffic tickets. Yet this was enough for them to break down his door at night.
    It’s clear from all the charges they’ve thrown against him that the Chesapeake prosecutors are seeking a plea deal with Frederick. That’s the saddest part of this very sad case. Based on what we know so far, Ryan Frederick doesn’t deserve death for his actions, or even life in prison. He doesn’t deserve to be in jail at all. The police performed one of their most dangerous actions, a no-knock raid, based on very little evidence, and one of their officers was killed when the homeowner, quite understandably, chose to defend himself.
    The only possible bright side to this injustice is that the public in Chesapeake is not siding blindly with the cops. They are asking questions and wondering why the authorities won’t answer them. One can only hope this same skepticism will extend to the jury that will hear Frederick’s case.
     
  2. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    Is there a defense fund set up yet? This needs help, or the rest of the story (if any) told.
     
  3. Blackjack

    Blackjack Monkey+++

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    FUBAR
     
  4. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    I hope he walks and have to say I think if anyone should do time for it it should be the judge who issued a no-knock warrant and or the brass who told the officers to serve it. Thats one thing that scares the hell out of me because I know if a no-knock warrant ever came up on my place I would be screwed, theres nothing illegal for them to find but it would most likely be a shootout with the first one in the door BECAUSE I DONT get into criminal activity and so if my door flies off the hinges and a guy with a gun charges in Im NOT gonna be thinking 'cops', I would be thinking 'killer, must protect family'.
     
  5. Tackleberry

    Tackleberry Krieg Hündchen

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    x2
     
  6. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    To a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I feel bad that a cop lost his life doing his duty but the method chosen has its risks. I too, would shoot first and then sort it out.
     
  7. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    I think for all elected judges this neds to become a prerequisit question of how they fel about no-knock warrents and in what situations they would issue them and if they would issue them upon request as with a standard warrent then they need to be campaigned against and get these judges off the bench. Maybe if we can get rid of enouph of the idiot judges who approve these warrents then we can let the rest of them know they are unacceptable and curb this crap before it gets more inocent folks killed.
     
  8. FireRanger939584

    FireRanger939584 Monkey++

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    I would have to agree, recently in my area there was an home invasion where three people entered the home and fired off several shots as they broke through the door. Hmmm, a lot of times entry teams will use a shotgun to blow the locks and/or hinges on a door to make ramming easier. So if I heard shots, and my front door is flying in with no yelling of police or warrant, then yeah somebody's gonna be getting my bullets in them.
     
  9. BAT1

    BAT1 Cowboys know no fear

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    x3 For every action, an opposite and equal reaction. Kick my castle door in, I'll use the castle doctrine. Bum rap. They have kidnapped him.
     
  10. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    I have heard of to many cases of people doing home invasions yelling that they were police or some similar like search warrant to keep from being shot or give them more advantage. Knowing that Im not a criminal (not to mention a bit hard of hearing and also likely to not have shouts register as quick as actions) Im not sure I would wait to shoot based on a shout of 'police, search warrant' or some such and deffinatly would not be dissarming untill I was sure they WERE cops which would likely mean they would start shooting 'the guy with a gun pointed at them' (aka me) and then who ever shoots worse dies at least and likely more.

    I suppose I could see some very limited situations where a no knock warrant would be a good idea or even the only viable option (KNOWN hostage situation, or armed fugative where surprise is a must and they KNOW for SURE the person is there) but their common use scares the hell out of me.
     
  11. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    OK. This is all well and good, and consistent thinking that shooting the first one (and as many more as possible) thru the door would be what got done. Now, start thinking about that. How many of us live in a house that is large enough that the door busters couldn't get the drop on us before we could come to condition red? If in bed? If watching TV? Sitting down to dinner? These guys are coming in wide awake and pumped, your blood pressure and heart rate is down, and reaction time is off tune.

    If there are BGs involved rather than SWAT, you stand a hell of a lot better chance. The chance may be worth taking, but it is still a timing and adrenaline issue.

    In this particular case, my sympathies are (for sure) on the side of the poor bugger that was raided. That said, there is a real good possibility that the door busters didn't do something right. No matter how I cut it, they screwed the pooch big time, at least twice; first on the warrant that was improperly sworn out, and again on the tactics.

    [beer]
     
  12. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    I figure as far as who got a first shot it would be about even. I know the lay out of the house better than anyone that would kick in the door. I can see both doors from my chair and as I type this (as always) my hand is about 6" from my carry gun. I also tend to most always be in at least a low yellow since we have critters and there are predators that from time to time look at them as a meal. In bed, the dogs would be going ape in addition to the noise of the door comeing off the hinges and when suddenly awakened at night my automatic reaction is to have a gun in hand from the headboard and they would still have to get to the bedroom from the door. I spent to long liveing in unplesant parts of the inner city and grew up in the burbs but across the street from a fairly rough biker bar and generaly home alone at night from about 9 years old on since both folks had to work nights. So being ready to act is just nature to me and low yellow is a big slow down to me. LEOs or BGs either one comeing in would have to figure out where I was, I already know where the entry points are at.
     
  13. thepatriot1976

    thepatriot1976 Resigned Membership

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    Also kudos to Tack!


    Knock and talk, No-nock warrants, random road blocks are all a travesty and a blatant violation of our 4th amendment rights!

    :cry:
     
  14. <exile>

    <exile> Padawan Learner

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    Unfortunately more LEOs will need to perish before they may start thinking,
    "No knock?"
    "Sarge can I have a few days to investigate and maybe we can take the guy on his way to work before we crash it in?"
     
  15. CBMS

    CBMS Looking for a safe place

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    I thought most S&S warrants were served very early in the morning, to catch the baddie in bed? I think that might have been a good call to make on their part, Or maybe the whole "Police! We Have a Warrant!" I'm pretty sure your supposed to say that even if it is a no knock. However, I know I wont have to worry about it because I am planning on doing the hardend steel front door trick (yes like in patriots). It might cost me a full months paycheck, but its my darn security and I like to keep it.
     
  16. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    Has there been any follow up in the news about this fiasco?
     
  17. boscoman

    boscoman Monkey++

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    None that I can find. I have even inquired at a few sites that written about this of a legal defense fund with no rely so far.
     
  18. andy

    andy Monkey+++

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    i don't get the refrence is this a book or moive, when i get back i plan on updating my home security and the front door is one of the things i'd like to improve on. so i don't hijack this thread can some one PM me with some suggestions? or dircect me to a more suitable thread?
    please...and thank you
     
  19. overbore

    overbore Monkey++

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    and please me also?? many thanks, Overbore
     
  20. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Re: no-knock warrant gets cop killed, man charged with murde

    Thread should be there by the time you read this in back to basics. Sounds like a good thread to have.
     
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