Couple sues over pot raid, surveillanced buying growing equipment..

[jkr]

only one question matters...how did they pay?

operation green thumb $till going strong, thanks pappy bu$h!

[NoOneButPaul]

The lesson here is to pay in cash only...

Start holding the minimum amount in your bank accounts and just start cashing your check. Pay for everything in cash...

[kylejack]

I doubt they got it from the company's records. They were probably sitting outside the store writing down plates.

[Anti Federalist]

Over five years now, and still searching for "justice"...


‘We’ll never be the same’: How a hydroponic tomato garden inspired cops to raid a family’s home

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.1f705f742118

<snip>

The Hartes would eventually file a federal lawsuit against the county, city, and officers involved. And although a federal judge later threw out their claim, this week a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled that the family could move forward in court. The decision has larger implications for Fourth Amendment litigation and legislation targeting badly behaving police officers.

The scorching judicial pronouncement blasted authorities for laziness and possible fabrication, the kind of overzealous police work that’s become a sometimes deadly facet of the drug war. And despite the sustained effort of the Obama administration to power down the law enforcement’s more quixotic battles with illicit substances, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has promised to reprioritize marijuana investigations. The Hartes case is a textbook reminder how that can be dangerous.

“Our family will never be the same,” Addie told The Post. “If this can happen to us, everybody in the country needs to be afraid,” Bob added.

[Suzanimal]

...

In November 2013, the couple filed a federal lawsuit against the county’s board of commissioners, as well as the officers involved. The family claimed the raid was an unlawful search-and-seizure in violation of the 14th and Fourth Amendments. The suit, which asked for $7 million in damages, also argued law enforcement violated state laws including trespassing and abuse of power.

In December, 2015, U.S. District Judge John W. Lungstrum threw out the family’s case citing qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that shields officers from liability for otherwise lawful acts in the course of their duty. The Hartes appealed.

This week, the three judge panel — Carlos Lucero, Gregory Phillips and Nancy Moritz — ruled against the state, sending the case back to district court. The 100-page decision pushed back hard against the claim that police officers are immune from legal responsibility if they are just doing their jobs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.ab5c86f2a572

[dannno]

I wonder where they got the records who who purchased the equipment?

Trying to work through this in my head. If the majority of this stuff is purchased by non-pot growers, then why doesn't this happen more often? I'm wondering if the couple (being ex-CIA and all) got a clue that they were under surveillance...flushed their plants, planted butternut squash and waited for the cops to show up just to make them look ridiculous.

God, I hope so.

They probably get their address and look for heat signatures in the house, cannabis plants in the backyard, etc.. I don't see any really hot lights in the pics, just some florescents, but they could have had some wattage going in there.

[angelatc]

Cops have been staking out grow shops for a few decades. Sometimes even posting cameras on street poles to capture licence plates.

Ding Ding Ding Ding - Bruno was right:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...729-story.html

Sgt. James Wingo of the Missouri State Highway Patrol started pulling surveillance shifts in the parking lots of hydroponic garden stores around the state. The project's logic, as Wingo explained in a 2011 letter to other law enforcement agencies, was that the stores "sell items that are consistently found in indoor marijuana growing operations." As customers came and went, Wingo would note their license plate information and enter names into a database.

[The Northbreather]

From the comments:


I worked in the legal field for over 20 years defending officers in these types of claims. More than likely, the case will be reheard by an en banc Appeals Court and dismissed or appealed to the US Supreme Court and dismissed. This whole scenario is FAR more common than anybody realizes or wants to admit. Qualified immunity as it applies to government officials is a really broad concept and courts are loathe to dismiss it because it would open the floodgates to litigation against the police.

Sadly, there is a cult of personality surrounding law enforcement in this country, almost like soldiers on the battlefield. Say anything bad about them and the blue light chasers are ready to hang you. Cops know this and they play it to their advantage. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard a police officer laugh about their mistakes and then say "but we're the good guys". And Courts buy it, almost without fail. Kids have been shot in raids that found no drugs whatsoever and still, the parents were not allowed to sue. Thank God nobody died in this situation.

As for the raids themselves, they serve 2 purposes - a) they might be able to seize property through civil forfeiture that goes into the police coffers without ever having to make an arrest or even find any drugs; and b) it gets them publicity so that the next time they apply for a DOJ grant to hire more officers, pay for more overtime or buy military grade weapons, they can point to the press releases and say look at all we've accomplished. If ex-CIA officers can't win against the police, average citizens don't stand a chance.

[Brian4Liberty]

Over five years now, and still searching for "justice"...


‘We’ll never be the same’: How a hydroponic tomato garden inspired cops to raid a family’s home

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.1f705f742118

<snip>

The Hartes would eventually file a federal lawsuit against the county, city, and officers involved. And although a federal judge later threw out their claim, this week a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled that the family could move forward in court. The decision has larger implications for Fourth Amendment litigation and legislation targeting badly behaving police officers.

The scorching judicial pronouncement blasted authorities for laziness and possible fabrication, the kind of overzealous police work that’s become a sometimes deadly facet of the drug war. And despite the sustained effort of the Obama administration to power down the law enforcement’s more quixotic battles with illicit substances, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has promised to reprioritize marijuana investigations. The Hartes case is a textbook reminder how that can be dangerous.

“Our family will never be the same,” Addie told The Post. “If this can happen to us, everybody in the country needs to be afraid,” Bob added.

Seven years after the fact, a symbolic victory...

Weed Warriors Who Mistook Tea for Marijuana Will Pay Their Victims $150,000
After seven years of litigation, a Kansas couple finally obtains some compensation for a comically inept drug raid.
Jacob Sullum | 5.5.2020

The Leawood, Kansas, couple whose home was raided in 2012 after sheriff's deputies claimed that loose tea found in their trash was marijuana will receive $150,000 for their trouble under a settlement agreement with the Johnson County Sheriff's Office. The settlement—which caps seven years of litigation, including two trips to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit—falls far short of the $7 million that Adlynn and Robert Harte originally sought. But it represents an implicit acknowledgment that the Hartes and their children suffered an outrageous invasion of their privacy and dignity in the service of a comically inept publicity stunt.

Here are some of the absurd facts that emerged as the couple's case was making its way through the courts:

• The family was targeted because Robert Harte bought supplies at a hydroponic gardening store in Kansas City. Harte was planning to grow vegetables with his son as a science project. But to Sgt. James Wingo of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, who was staking out the store, he looked like a cannabis kingpin.
...
More: https://reason.com/2020/05/05/weed-w...ictims-150000/

[catfeathers]

Cops were at my son's house a few years ago looking for a relative of his wife. He had been there earlier but they sent him away. The cops thought they had something when they found the equipment in the walk-in closet where my son was growing tomatoes. Luckily all they got out of it was a good laugh.