Texas Deputy Killed in a No-Knock Raid for Some Pot Plants

[Comrade Grumpy]

Courtesy of the Drug War Chronicle. What a stupid waste.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2013/dec/24/texas_deputy_killed_dawn_noknock

Texas Deputy Killed in Dawn No-Knock Drug Raid

by Phillip Smith, December 24, 2013, 04:40pm


A Burleson County sheriff's deputy leading a dawn, no-knock drug raid was shot and killed by the homeowner last Thursday. Sgt. Adam Sowders becomes the 40th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

Although Sowders was killed early last Thursday morning, we delayed reporting the story because the sheriff's department refused for several days to release search warrant information that would have verified it was indeed a drug-related search warrant.

According to the Bryan-College Station Eagle, Sowders had obtained a search warrant for the residence after obtaining information that the homeowner was growing marijuana and possibly had stolen guns. The warrant was a "no-knock" warrant, meaning police were to forcibly enter the residence without giving residents a chance to respond.

Sowders, the first officer through the door, was shot and killed by homeowner Henry Goedrich Magee, 28, who has now been charged with capital murder. But Magee's attorney, famed Houston defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin, said Magee and his pregnant girlfriend were sleeping in the home when they heard "explosives" going off and loud pounding at the door. Moments later, the door burst open and a person Magee couldn't identify entered the residence. Magee grabbed a rifle leaning against his bedroom door frame and shot Sowders. According to DeGuerin, Magee shot him because he "believed the man rushing in was an intruder and he needed to defend himself."

Magee has a felony and a misdemeanor drug conviction, but DeGuerin said all investigators found inside the trailer were a few marijuana plants and four guns that were all legal. DeGuerin pointed at the no-knock warrant as a contributing factor in Sowder's death.

"The danger is that if you're sitting in your home and it's pitch black outside and your door gets busted in without warning, what the hell are you supposed to do?" DeGuerin said.

[RedstDem]

1. using law enforsements own words

looks to be righteous kill.......(from whats known so far)..

[FreakinDJ]

5. "as he turned the gun started to point up" - "I was in FEAR"

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Texas has a "castle doctrine" law:

Sec. 9.32. DEADLY FORCE IN DEFENSE OF PERSON. (a) A person is justified in using deadly force against another:
(1) if the actor [he] would be justified in using force against the other under Section 9.31; and
(2) [if a reasonable person in the actor's situation would not have retreated; and
[(3)] when and to the degree the actor [he] reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary:
(A) to protect the actor [himself] against the other's use or attempted use of unlawful deadly force; or
(B) to prevent the other's imminent commission of aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery.
(b) The actor's belief under Subsection (a)(2) that the deadly force was immediately necessary as described by that subdivision is presumed to be reasonable if the actor:
(1) knew or had reason to believe that the person against whom the deadly force was used:
(A) unlawfully and with force entered, or was attempting to enter unlawfully and with force, the actor's occupied habitation, vehicle, or place of business or employment;

http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/80R/billtext/html/SB00378F.htm

Note "knew, or had reason to believe". With a no-knock warrant, then "reason to believe the person...unlawfully...entered" seems to be met by the facts in the case. (which won't matter, because it's Texas, so you can expect unequal application of the law because the dead man was a cop.)

[gejohnston]

39. I totally agree,

even a Quebec court agreed in a kind of similar case. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Parasiris

Ultimately, I think there needs to end drug prohibition and no knock warrants.

[LiberalFighter]

3. If that is their best judgement

How can civilians be safe with them in charge?

[Gravitycollapse]

4. I feel no worse for this deputy than I would for any other common criminal.

Who breaks into someone's house. Actions have consequences.

[ManiacJoe]

6. A common result of no-knock warrants.

The police should know better by now, but apparently not.

[Comrade Grumpy]

7. When the war on drugs and the 2nd Amendment collide, it gets ugly.

It's usually not the cops getting killed, though. The Drug War Chronicle has this year's list of drug war deaths:

http://stopthedrugwar.org/taxonomy/term/252

[firsttimer]

9. Attorney: Man was acting in self-defense when he killed sheriff's deputy

http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/article_549b0586-cefc-53a2-bd34-80a8f07816b4.html





The danger is that if you're sitting in your home and it's pitch black outside and your door gets busted in without warning, what the hell are you supposed to do?" DeGuerin said

[TheKentuckian]

10. One should have an expectation of a bullet when busting into someone's home.

No knock should just be illegal for the safety of everyone involved.

[NickB79]

11. How can Magee have a felony conviction on his record

And yet still legally 4 firearms in his residence?

[Comrade Grumpy]

14. Good question.

"While Magee did have four guns inside his home -- a .308-caliber semi-automatic rifle, the weapon Magee shot Sowders with; a .223-caliber rifle discovered locked up in a safe, along with a shotgun given to him by his grandfather; and a handgun that belonged to his mother found in the kitchen -- they were all legal, DeGuerin said."

In some states, you can get your gun rights back after serving time for non-violent offense. I don't know about Texas.

[Lizzie Poppet]

31. I was wondering that, myself.

They may belong to the girlfriend (or at least were purchased by her...). Or as Comrade Grumpy points out below, he homeowner may have petitioned to have his 2nd Amendment rights restored.

[gejohnston]

37. I doubt it

the ATF hasn't had the funding to process the applications since the 1990s.

[avebury]

12. In the absence of any additional relevant information,

I would have a hard time convicting the homeowner (and I am not a big supporter of guns). If the cops burst into someone's home without identifying themselves, considering the gun culture of this country, just what do they expect is going to happen? To then charge the homeowner with capital murder is insult to injury. Actions have consequences and the police, like everyone else should be held responsible for their own actions.

edit to add: The police don't seem to understand the concept of contributory negligence.

[Logical]

28. I 100% agree with you! n-t

[Dawson Leery]

13. The homeowner had every right to defend himself.

The Texas castle doctrine law says this.

[nilesobek]

15. Typical tactics

They get the big grants from DHS and want to try out their toys like flash bang grenades at the beginning of raids. Sleeping families think they are in a war zone suddenly. Whatever happened to balance in law enforcement?

[onethatcares]

16. dead, because of pot plants

just another life sentence in the war on drugs.

[otherone]

17. another victim of the drug war..

[Tom Rinaldo]

18. No knock should be illegal except when public safety is directly threatened

There should be an imminent threat of potential violence, not just law breaking, to justify a no knock warrant; a known murderer potentially holed up somewhere, a bomb maker, something along that order. A very high threshold should be met before granting that type of warrant.

[Jim Lane]

19. The issue with drugs is that all the evidence may go down the toilet.

One can plausibly argue for repeal of all prohibitions of drugs, of any kind and in any quantity. Whether you take that view or not (and I'm not endorsing it), it's not currently the law. Someone with a significant stash of heroin or crack is probably a dealer. The law enforcement problem is that even thousands of dollars worth of such a drug can be flushed away by one perpetrator while the other stalls the police at the door demanding to see the warrant, reviewing it, writing down their badge numbers, etc.

[Comrade Grumpy]

20. Better dead cops than some drugs get flushed, eh?

That was Nixon's excuse, though. Before Nixon, we didn't have no-knock raids.

No-knock raids are dangerous, especially in a country where lots and lots of people have guns. Though to be fair, they are much more dangerous to home owners than cops. Hear somebody breaking down your door in the middle of the night, pick up your gun, and boom you're dead.

Sometimes the homeowners are bad guys, determined to go out in a blaze of bullets and take some cops with them. Sometimes they're just homeowners trying to protect themselves.

Although Texas has a castle doctrine law, I expect this guy to get executed, because this is Texas and it was a cop. Now, if it had been a kid trick or treating who got blown away, that would be a different story.

[ileus]

22. I really think no knocks are a way for LEO's to have some fun

training and getting off on the adrenalin rush from getting to play COD for real.


Owner is lucky they didn't empty several 30 round mags into him.

[firsttimer]

34. There's no thinking about it .

[ohheckyeah]

23. I don't think confiscating

a stash is worth someone's life.

[Logical]

29. Potential murders justify this. Drugs to not. n-t

[firsttimer]

33. How about issue the search warrant when the person is leaving his home or walking in?

No knocks are done for the rush. Very , very rarely are they ever needed.

How else can Dept's justify budgets for all their new toys .

[Iggo]

21. Legalize it.

[Comrade Grumpy]

24. Somewhat surprisingly, Texans are ready to do just that.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2013/10/new-poll-finds-strong-backing-to-legalize-and-tax-marijuana-in-texas.html/

A recent poll had support for legalization at 58%. In Texas!

Even more mind-blowingly, similar poll results are popping up in places like Indiana, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

Yet cops and still dying and people are still going to prison for pot prohibition.

[davidn3600]

25. It's about money...

The drug war is making sure our jails stay full. If states end the drug war, a lot of these prisons are going to start having empty beds. The private facilities will start losing money and sue the states for millions of dollars.

These private facilities actually force the state to sign contracts that the government will keep the prisons at above 90% capacity. So it creates downward pressure on judges, politicians, and law enforcement to keep people locked up.

It's the prison industrial complex. It's why we have far more prisoners in America than any other nation.

[Egalitarian Thug]

26. This is why cops prefer to brutalize and kill the weak and the innocent.

Bullies are overwhelmingly cowards and that's why they're drawn to being enforcers for the ruling class.

[Logical]

27. Sounds like stand your ground to me. Justified shooting. How would the home owner know....

it was a cop?

Cops are basically military at this point.

To protect and serve my ass!

[SamKnause]

30. Drug raid

I have zero sympathy for the officer.

[firsttimer]

36. Hate to say it but neither do I

Here's a NO Knock where they shoot a person that's woken up and surprised holding a golf club in
the middle of the night .

NO CHARGES filed on the police who murdered this man

[SamKnause]

38. Reply

Thanks for posting.

I have watched many videos of the police being brutal and deadly to humans. I can not stomach the ones where they mistreat, or kill animals.

It sickens me.

This fake and failed war on 'drugs' sickens me.

Those who control this country have two motives, money and power.

They are eating this country alive from the inside out.

I feel powerless.

We are past the point of expecting our votes to change anything.

The desires of the majority are repeatedly ignored.

Those in control, like things just the way they are.

[The Straight Story]

32. Blame the gun. Only guns harm people. They should arrest it and lock it up.

Let the man go back to what he was doing but take all of his guns and he won't have the ability to defend himself (pffft no one needs to do that, the police are always right there when you need them, and apparently even when you don't). No guns, no one dies (well, the government can have guns. But then they can bomb people in a country we are not at war with and explain nothing about it. Those are the only folks we should trust with guns, not lowly folks like me and you - we are bad and cannot be trusted).

Self defense is not a right, it is the government's job to defend you. Fund them more, allow more spying, cameras, cops on every corner, encourage people to turn more people in they think could cause trouble some day - basically, if you would not trust your fellow citizen with a gun (unless they get a job with the government, then you must suddenly trust) then they should be watched as they are potentially unstable and will go on a killing spree any second now. They might use a car/homemade bomb/etc when the guns are removed so just don't trust anyone period.

We, the citizens, are the terrorists/enemies. From the plants we grow to the things we own. Be afraid, watch out, and let those in charge of the fatherland help you to live a better, safer, and more controlled life.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

35. The man rushing in WAS an intruder.

According to DeGuerin, Magee shot him because he "believed the man rushing in was an intruder and he needed to defend himself."

[wildbilln864]

40. and indeed he was an intruder...