Man Shoots At Intruders, Turns Out It Was A No-Knock Raid. Now He Faces The Death Penalty

[Wild Bill]

Man Shoots at Intruders, Turns Out it was a No-Knock Raid. Now He Faces the Death Penalty

By Cassandra Rules on September 18, 2014
 

 

On Friday, May 9, 2014, just after 5:30am in Killeen, Texas, Marvin Louis Guy was the target of a no knock raid.

The officers were looking for drugs, yet none were found in the home.  There was some questionable paraphernalia, but nothing indicative of drug dealing- or anything damning enough for a reasonable person to feel the need to take an officers life.

 

Unfortunately the danger of no-knock raids is real. just ask the parents of baby Bou or the family of Detective Dinwiddie.

 

Detective Dinwiddie was one of the SWAT officers who broke into Guy’s house on May 9th, based on a seemingly bogus informant tip off about drugs being dealt from the home.

 

Likely alarmed by the men climbing through his windows at 5:30 in the morning, Guy and his wife sought to protect themselves and their property and fired on the intruders- in self defense

.

Dinwiddie, along with three other officers were shot while attempting to breach the windows to the home, according to the department’s press release.

“The TRU was beginning to breach the window when the 49 year old male inside, opened fire striking four officers.”

Since the shooting occurred during the break in, a reasonable person would assume they had not yet identified themselves as police officers.  How on earth is this not self defense?

 

Prosecutors are now seeking the death penalty against Guy. He is charged with capital murder in Dinwiddie’s death, as well as three counts of attempted capital murder for firing on the other officers during the shootout, injuring one other officer. Body armor protected others who were hit.

 

This announcement, given by the prosecutor in open court, comes one day after Governor Rick Perry presented  Dinwiddie’s family with the Star of Texas award. This award is given out each year to police and first responders killed or injured in the line of duty, the Killeen Daily Herald reported.

 

Let’s flash back to December, in Texas, for a moment.

 

On December 19, also just before 6am, Burleson County Sgt. Adam Sowders, led a team in a no-knock marijuana raid on Henry Goedrich Magee’s mobile home in Somerville.

 

Also startled by these intruders, Magee opened fire, fearing for the safety of himself and his then pregnant girlfriend.

 

Sowders was unfortunately killed among the chaos.

 

In February, just a few months before the fateful raid in Killeen, all charges against Magee were dropped when a Texas grand jury refused to indict, based on them believing he feared for his safety and that this was a reasonable act of self defense.

 

With such similar circumstances and such intensely opposite repercussions one cant help but try to find the differences.

 

Most obvious? Guy is black and Magee is white. Also, take note of the difference in photos used in the press.

Self defense is a right for all, and no knock raids not only pose a danger to dogs, children, and communities in general- but officers as well.  Maybe its time to re-think that strategy.

 

We need to end the war on drugs and put an end to this violence.

 

Estimates show that the total number of SWAT deployments across the country has increased from a few hundred per year in the 1970s, to a few thousand per year in the 80s, and in 2010, the Washington Times reported estimates being as high as 50,000 per year.

 

Many of these are for nonviolent misdemeanor drug offenses, not big time drug kingpins.  Should we really be risking lives of citizens and officers, over what someone chooses to put into their own body?

 

For more information on botched paramilitary raids, check out this shocking and interactive map from Radley Balko.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Wild Bill

[pic book]

texas is ridiculous and so are no-knock raids.

[Joel]

No knock raids should be considered anonymous break ins and any police injuries self defense.

 

The country wide epidemic of police killing unarmed civilians needs to be addressed on a national level.

 

I propose the following:

 

Any member of law enforcement who kills a civilian regardless of the circumstances is to be removed from his or her job. Permanently.

Whether the killing is a matter of self defense or not, is not relevant, a person who takes one life, can take another. Let them be cognizant that taking a life will cost them their job, perhaps more restraint will be used.

 

No civilian is to be beaten under any circumstances. If officers need training on safely restraining someone, let them get it. Beating a civilian should lead to the officer involved being fired.

 

use of lethal ordinance should be avoided and used only after being given permission. Rubber bullets should be the standard.

 

I believe many of the people who join law enforcement are just criminals looking for a chance to be violent. Perhaps having such strict limitations on what the police can do will limit these criminals from seriously considering  law enforcement as a career choice.

[trichcycler]

HEAR HEAR !!! 

 

then, we'd need to consider increasing wages to fill the mass shortage of law enforcement officers.

[garyfisher]

Any member of law enforcement who kills a civilian regardless of the circumstances is to be removed from his or her job. Permanently.

Whether the killing is a matter of self defense or not, is not relevant, a person who takes one life, can take another. Let them be cognizant that taking a life will cost them their job, perhaps more restraint will be used.

 

Ya.  OK.  *rolls eyes*

 

Mr criminal, please stop shooting at me.  If I shoot you and kill you, I'm going to lose my job, permanently. 

[trichcycler]

I wonder if that happened at all raids if police would maybe wait for the suspect to come out of the house to check the mail or grocery shopping? would they maybe conduct their investigation more thoroughly, like, how many violent caregivers and patients do any of us know?(zero here). Maybe they would check to see if children were present before they tossed a flash grenade into their crib, or turned the corner with their trigger finger and full automatic weapon ?  Like "Ah, the kids are here this weekend, let's do this on Monday" maybe?? And if they were investigating they definitely should know if the suspect is in the home, and catch him as he was coming home from the grow store ?  middle of the night? full auto weapons? black masks and jackets? whisper announcements? violence against family members and pets? how much do they make per hour again ?   who would take that job in the first place I wonder....(rant)

[Habenero]

Anyone should be allowed to use deadly force in self defense. Remember that bank robbery a few years ago where the perps used fully auto weapons on the cops? I can see it now, hey billy can you call the sarge and see if it's okay that we use real bullet 'stead o' these bouncy balls?

 

There ain't a need to go all cra cra. Institute rules and follow them. Fight fire with fire. You tell a cop they'll lose their job if they shoot in self defense then you get gun shy cops who are dead. Anyone who reads my posts here knows I HAAAATE cops but that don't mean we should turn them into suit and tie mediators. There is a place for cops and cops should stay in their place.

 

Far as no knock raids, that should be a last resort. It makes no sense to conduct any raid that can be done after apprehending a suspect in their front yard. Too dern many stories where cops kill innocent people in these situations. Ya break into someone's house while they're asleep you really think they're gonna have the right frame of mind to know it's the po po? I hear a loud crash that wakes me up I'ma grab my shotgun and ya better hope I clearly understand yer a po po before I squeeze the trig becuz yer vest ain't gonna protect yer eyeballs and I got a good wide scatter shot and a semi auto. Yeah I'll go down for putting yer eyes out and makin ya drool the rest o' yer life but that's little comfort to you now huh? Sucks fer both of us.

[budpuffer]

i agree with Joels post stating that anyone should be able to defend themself against what they think is a break in..if the cops want to do a no knock raid,then they should take the consequences,with no blame placed on the defender...hell i'd start shooting too and wouldn't stop until my ammo was gone..lol..bp