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Alexzander — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:47:17 -0800

The majority of good ebooks one can http://www.pdfqueen.com find and download in pdf format only. But it’s not really a problem, ’cause you can easily convert pdf format into any other.

Re: New "KopBusters" Website Exposes Rubber-stamp Search Warrant

marijuana guy — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:12:17 -0800

LoL…that is funny. Luv this post and will be linking to it on my blog.

New "KopBusters" Website Exposes Rubber-stamp Search Warrant

MichaelKelly — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:00:00 -0800

It’s one of the ballsiest experiments of my lifetime, stemming from one of the saddest, most infuriating stories of the decade.

KopBusters has a new website up, with KopBusters episode #1 (the Odessa, TX episode) now available for pre-order. Here’s the story so far. (With mocking, rhetorical comments inserted by yours truly at convenient junctures.)

In response to allegations that the Odessa Police Department falsified evidence against Yolanda Madden, who is now spending years in prison as a result of her ordeal, KopBusters orchestrated a sting on the police of Odessa. The KopBusters crew secretly rented a house in Odessa, in which they set up a grow-lamp—similar to those used for growing marijuana—under which they placed two miniature evergreen trees. When the Odessa cops arrived at the site expecting to find drugs, instead they found they were part of an undercover video program, with a network of closed-circuit cameras streaming video over the Internet.

When the KopBusters then asked to see the search warrant affidavit, the police refused. But KopBusters and the Odessa American have now received copies of the affidavit, which says the raid was predicated upon an anonymous letter, allegedly left at the Odessa police department by Pastor Terry Pierce, who pastors a local church. According to the Odessa American, Pastor Pierce denies delivering any such letter and says he’s never heard of Yolanda Madden.

Meanwhile, the Odessa Police Department refuses to discuss the issue, because it’s part of an open investigation. (Or was that “national security”? Let me double-check… Uh, no. It was “open investigation.”)

According to the Odessa American, the letter claims to have been written by the ex-girlfriend of an Ohio man allegedly connected with a marijuana-growing operation. It describes the house and its surroundings, which it claims contained a marijuana-growing facility as well as $19,000 in cash in the fireplace. The letter apparently said that one could smell marijuana near the air-conditioner, because the plants were allegedly growing near there. Police verified that the house existed and appeared as described, and that it was rented by someone named Jennifer Moore, who was from Ohio. (The part about the marijuana smell, maybe that just slipped their minds, because otherwise, they presumably would have discovered that there was no marijuana odor, because there was no marijuana.)

Courts have generally maintained that an anonymous letter by itself is insufficient to establish probable cause, because probable cause demands that the information first be verified as reliable. (But I’m sure to some asswipe anti-drug warriors, reciting easily obtainable observations about someone’s house is good enough to verify reliability.) This would suggest that the Odessa police and Judge Bill McCoy, who signed the warrant, may have acted improperly and may have violated the Fourth Amendment guarantee against unreasonable search.

“They have to detect with one of their senses or a reliable confidential informant,” says KopBusters mastermind Barry Cooper, who has himself worked as a police officer on an anti-drug task force. When asked whether he knew who wrote the letter, or whether he wrote it himself, he replied, “Anybody could have written that letter. The police could have written it… If it were legal to conduct a raid based on an anonymous letter alone, then citizens could send anonymous letters to trigger raids on their enemies.”

According to the Odessa American, Rex Leach, a former D.A. who now works with a legal firm in McAllen, Texas, said the affidavit is “probably enough to get across the line but not a particularly strong affidavit… but knowing Texas judges, the likelihood is they would still let the prosecution use it and let the defendant use it as a point of appeal.” He noted, “if you just wanted to harass somebody… you go in, turn in an anonymous letter, make sure some of the items in the letter are accurate. You can set people up, and that’s why the magistrate’s supposed to be some sort of gatekeeper.”

And to borrow a phrase from Penn & Teller: Bullshit!… “And then there’s this asshole”:

Odessa Police Chief Tim Burton blames the unreliable, anonymous informant (whom the government relied upon) for the foul-up. (Oops.) He said the letter “was purposely designed to lead the police officers astray, and that’s a disservice not only to the men and women here but to the citizens of Odessa.” (How patriotic! I think I’m gonna cry, just a little bit.) His department is also still looking into whether they can press charges against KopBusters for the reverse-sting. (Apparently, dickwads with guns don’t like being made to look like jerk-offs on national Internet video. Let’s keep this straight, okay? Dickwad… Jerk-off… Not the same thing.)

Seriously, though, I wonder whether they might have a case, if they can establish who wrote the anonymous letter. Because it could be said that the letter is fraudulent, and it must be against some law to give the police false, misleading evidence that causes them to go after someone who hasn’t done anything wrong. (Although, if Yolanda Madden’s case means anything, this rule may only apply unless some dickwad cop actually wants you to give false evidence.)

Meanwhile, Barry Cooper says he’s gearing up to sue Judge McCoy and the Odessa Police Department over the raid, and he’s also planning more reverse-stings, in Odessa and elsewhere, although for obvious reasons he won’t discuss the details.

Indeed, this is not an isolated case. Some infamous drug-raids-gone-bad have been predicated on anonymous tips. And overly broad laws—whether drug laws or other laws—are used by some people to strike out against their personal enemies. All lends support to the axiom: It’s not the abuse of power that’s the problem, it’s the power to abuse.

Always watching!
- Michael Kelly (a.k.a. TimK)

P.S. The KopBusters site also has links to some of the evidence in the Yolanda Madden case, which I continue to follow with interest, as well as a “Kop Brutality” page full of disturbing video clips of police behavior.

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Re: New "KopBusters" Website Exposes Rubber-stamp Search Warrant

New "KopBusters" Website Exposes Rubber-stamp Search Warrant