Qualified Immunity

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A Houston Man Was Jailed for Weeks in a Case of Mistaken Identity. But Holding Officials Accountable Will Be Nearly Impossible Thanks to the Supreme Court​

Imagine police imprison you for a crime someone with the same name as you committed. You plead your innocence to the authorities, the judge, and your attorney but to no avail. Days go by, and ultimately, you’re able to prove your innocence, but the threat of being arrested again for someone else’s crime still looms over you.

That nightmare became a reality for Jabon “James” Barrett this past winter and for David Sosa starting in 2014. Both men were mistakenly arrested and jailed, in one case multiple times, because they shared a name with someone who had an outstanding warrant. Both cases show just how easily someone can be stripped of their rights, and how hard it can be to hold officials accountable for their mistakes.

Barrett’s ordeal began one night last November when Houston police spotted a gun in his car at a gas station. Despite being a military veteran with no criminal record and a license to carry a gun, Houston police arrested him believing he was someone else. That individual, who went by the alias “James Barrett,” had a decade-old conviction in Florida. Houston authorities made little effort to verify if they had the right man. Instead, they charged Barrett with unlawfully carrying a weapon and later, a more severe charge that carried a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

More:

A Houston Man Was Jailed for Weeks in a Case of Mistaken Identity. But Holding Officials Accountable Will Be Nearly Impossible Thanks to the Supreme Court - Institute for Justice

Imagine police imprison you for a crime someone with the same name as you committed. You plead your innocence to the authorities, the judge, and […]
ij.org
 
Thats exactly what's happened to by friend. Ultimately the charges were all dropped against him when they realized they had the wrong individual. 10k in attorney fees later, loss of income from work as well as being locked up for 3 days and the entire ordeal dragged out for almost a year. Yep, no way to sue the system.
 
That's kinda what needs to be addressed, isn't it?

A method of redress from the system.

NOT turning all police into ambulance-chaser bait - create the Derek-Chauvin Syndrome, have all cops fear for their own lives for doing their jobs.

A little better screening of candidates at hiring time, wouldn't hurt, either. And again, making their daily job activities a personal danger, doesn't draw the good people.


Did we learn nothing from "Defund the Police"?
 

Update:

Innocent Woman Whose Home Was Destroyed by SWAT Team Petitions Supreme Court to Hear Case Seeking Compensation - Institute for Justice

WASHINGTON—Today, an innocent woman whose McKinney, Texas, home was destroyed by a SWAT team in 2020 asked the United States Supreme Court to hear her […]
ij.org
 
Once upon a time, the system was self-correcting.

One local (kinda) example: Bannack, Montana.

Case in point: One Sheriff Henry Plummer.

Plummer was a bad boy. And boy he was - he was in his mid-twenties. He had robbed his way across the West, from (IIRC) Texas, up into Montana. He liked to work stage routes near gold and silver mines.

He stumbled into Bannack, a stranger...and met up with an adversary. I don't recall if they were old foes or if they became foes over whiskey. But this local bad guy had the town in fear; and Plummer sent him straight to the Hereafter.

Plummer was a hero. The town was looking for a sheriff - not sure why - but by popular acclaim, Henry was nominated and confirmed and given his badge.

Only trouble was, he hadn't wrapped up his stage-robbing industry. His confederates were still hiding in the scrub; and there wasn't a practical way to bring them in and make them deputies.

So, Henry moonlighted. Wore two hats at once, along with a mask.

And to make a long story short, while relieving a stagecoach of its cargo, someone recognized the man in control as the new Sheriff. A posse was formed, and the Sheriff, and his dark deputies, were all brought in.

The underlings were given drumhead trials and hanged. Plummer didn't even get that - he just got taken to the makeshift gallows and given a slow-drop hanging. Once he'd choked out, his body was thrown in a ravine for the coyotes.

THAT...is redress of corrupt law.

Why doesn't it happen today? Because, since the Grate Society, MOST "Local" LE money comes from Uncle Sugar. And Uncle Sugar doesn't give things away - it's buying compliance. DEI, programs - such as SWAT; procedures. Deviate from our rulebook, and lose your green stream.

We could address THAT little problem - and then, when a police chief raids the wrong house, send the little chief to the Big House.
 
Obviously it was incorrect as to law, and communicated a price - a threat - for lawful or not-criminal action.

If a cop threatens a restaurant manager if he doesn't get a free lunch, he, too, will have no immunity.

This is common sense. EXECUTION OF HIS DUTIES. The Stuporeme Kourt just spelled out what should have been plainly understood - except by libburls, who make a fat living not understanding obvious things.
 
Update:

South Bend Mom’s Fight for Compensation After Police Raid Moves Forward - Institute for Justice

SOUTH BEND, Ind.—Amy Hadley’s home in South Bend was raided by a police SWAT team in June 2022. Her home still bears the scars of […]
ij.org
 

Related:

SWAT Raids are Out of Control​

Jul 15, 2024

Imagine a SWAT team raids a house—battering doors, breaking windows, and coating everything inside with tear gas residue. Now imagine the SWAT team had the wrong address. Who do think would pay for the damage? If you said insurance, you’re probably wrong. If you said the city, you’re probably also wrong.

Today, IJ attorneys Jeff Redfern and Dylan Moore talk with us about this nightmare situation facing homeowners across America – and how the Institute for Justice is fighting to change it.

43:34

Vicki Baker SWAT Case: https://ij.org/case/texas-swat-destru...
Wrong House Raid: https://ij.org/case/texas-wrong-house...
 
So...start a move to fire police chiefs.

When you do...you will find the cold, dead hand of FedGov in the midst of it, handing out fiat to local police authorities.

Locally, you can try for a reform movement. A few cities have cut their FedGov bribery-payments to a minimum.

Nationally...reform IS NEEDED. Local government MUST be local. When it is not, you see what it becomes - a racialist, redistributive Socialist Police State.
 

More:

SWAT Raided Her Home. It Was The Wrong House.​

Aug 1, 2024

Everyone who visits a home for the first time—including delivery drivers, plumbers, and Girl Scouts—knows that you have to make sure you have the right address before barging in. Somehow, Waxahachie Police Department (WPD) Lieutenant Mike Lewis didn’t get the memo. In the dead of night, Lewis directed a heavily armed SWAT team to storm a home in which the innocent Karen Jimerson was getting ready for bed while her loved ones slept.

https://ij.org/case/texas-wrong-house...

4:11


Lewis had every reason to know he directed his SWAT team to the wrong house. First off, he had a copy of the search warrant and photos of the suspected house, and Karen’s address was clearly affixed to the front of her home. Although he later reported that he “believed” the numbers on Karen’s home (593) matched the address on the warrant (573), Lewis admitted that he never got a good look at her address before ordering the raid. Even worse, Karen’s home and the target house looked very different—Karen’s house had an impossible-to-miss wheelchair ramp (which the target house lacked), while the target house had a perimeter fence, a porch, a detached garage, and stairs leading to the front door (which Karen’s house lacked).

Without double-checking Karen’s address or noticing the obvious physical differences between her house and the target house, Lewis ordered officers to “break and rake” her home. On Lewis’ command, officers busted down Karen’s door, detonated a flashbang grenade in her front yard, shattered her windows, and held her terrified family at gunpoint until another officer realized Lewis’ mistake. In the wake of the raid, an internal investigation found that Lewis “completely overlooked” the WPD’s “reasonable and normal protocol,” and Lewis was suspended without pay.

Still, when Karen and her family sued Lewis for violating their Fourth Amendment rights, a divided three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit ruled that qualified immunity shields him from accountability. According to the panel, Lewis didn’t have “fair notice” that ordering a warrantless no-knock raid on the wrong house violates the constitutional rights of the people inside.

The panel’s decision defies common sense and binding precedent. So Karen and her family have teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to ask the full Fifth Circuit to rehear their case. When an officer has detailed information describing the place to be searched—including photos and an address—but fails to confirm that information before raiding the wrong house, he should not be able to evade liability by invoking qualified immunity.
 
searcher said:
he later reported that he “believed” the numbers on Karen’s home (593) matched the address on the warrant (573),
Click to expand...
He couldn't tell the dif between a 7 and a nine? Sounds like he needs glasses.

Or an updated prescription.
 

Update.

Family Asks Supreme Court to Hear Qualified Immunity Case Against SWAT Commander Who Ordered Officers to Raid Wrong Home - Institute for Justice

WASHINGTON—Today, an innocent family whose Lancaster, Texas, home was raided by a SWAT team in March 2019 asked the United States Supreme Court to hear […]
ij.org
 
I probably said this way back. But, history shows us the way to deal with that.

Particularly, history out of the American West. Where men were men...born in a harsh-but-rich environment; trained to be men; and left alone, mostly, by government. In some cases, too-much alone...as with Deadwood, South Dakota, overrun by claim-jumpers and vigilantes, with Washington denying its own jurisdiction.

But that's another story. I take you to Bannack, Montana. Right on the edge of the first gold find, here.

Bannack was a remote town, in the day; and a bit off the main stage road. The Northern Pacific rail line was dozens of miles north; the nearest depot, Butte, 90 miles away.

There were the usual players, the shootings, the claim-jumpings. And the stage robberies.

One day, a stranger wandered in. One Henry Plummer...a young man, handy with a gun. Over issues I've forgotten, Plummer was called to put his talent to use...and plugged a bandit that was the terror of the town. Just think, "Liberty Valence" - except the hero was an unknown.

But now, the hero. Celebrated by the town - who needed a lawman. Plummer was appointed Sheriff by popular acclaim.

Except, his occupation wasn't mining, as he claimed. He was a highwayman - and not ready to retire. Point of fact, he had his men camping out outside the town.

And he carried on, in his spare time, using his new status to his advantage.

As happened, he was observed in a couple of "operations." The townspeople felt the sting of having been duped; and arranged to snare their sheriff with several of his gunmen.

Who were unceremoniously hanged. The apprentices got unmarked rock graves, near the gallows. Sheriff Plummer was left to rot in the noose.

That is what is needed. You can translate that to modern times any way you like, but there needs to be COSTS when these Fuddrelly-Funded cowboys kick down the wrong door.

When they do it for money. Either for Asset Seizures, or just because Uncle Sugar is paying them moar to do it.
 

Supreme Court Ends Suit Against Officer Who Enabled Abuse by Telling on Domestic Abuse Victim Who Filed Confidential Report - Institute for Justice

WASHINGTON—This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Desiree Martinez’s appeal in her civil rights suit against a Clovis, California, police officer who protected […]
ij.org

Supreme Court won't hear a qualified immunity case where a cop disclosed an abuse report to a woman's abuser

A California woman won't be allowed to sue the police officer who allegedly leaked a confidential abuse report to her violent boyfriend after the Supreme
reason.com
 

Qualified Immunity Could Be Abolished in Ohio In The Next Election​

Dec 5, 2024

The petition proposal was just approved by the attorney general which will put the issue of the fall ballot.

13:08

Like to read....................

Ohio Ballot Board approves signature gathering for proposed amendment to end qualified immunity

A proposed Ohio constitutional amendment that would end qualified immunity that protects government employees such as police officers from lawsuits can start gathering signatures to get on next year’s November ballot. The Ohio Ballot Board advanced the proposed amendment one step further by...
news.yahoo.com

Proposal to end qualified immunity in Ohio moves forward

According to advocates, if the measure makes it onto the November 2025 ballot it would be the first-ever state to allow voters to decide on qualified immunity.
www.wcpo.com
 

Badges & Bulldozers: Georgia's Home Destructions and FBI Raids​

Jan 16, 2025 Beyond the Brief

We all want to feel secure in our homes, and if the reckless or abusive acts of government officials violate that security, we expect to be able to hold them accountable. IJ recently launched two cases in Georgia to uphold that principle; one in which a town bulldozed a home without warning or compensation and another where FBI agents violently raided the wrong house.
Today we are joined by IJ attorneys Dylan Moore and Patrick Jaicomo.

43:27

LINKS:
Eric’s case video: • Man's House Bulldozed—No Notice, No C...
Mom’s mistaken arrest video (from Keith questions) • Innocent Mom Arrested, Mistreated in ...
 

New York Bill Would Abolish Qualified Immunity | Tenth Amendment Center

A bill filed in the New York Assembly seeks to abolish the doctrine of qualified immunity, paving the way for lawsuits against government officials, including law enforcement officers, in state court for rights violations.
blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com
 
Good luck getting anyone competent to serve on any government board.

This is especially important as regards lower-profile supporting boards, which often have citizen-volunteers. In the city I grew up in, the Planning Commission was a volunteer board, filled with persons of stature. The Mayor or City Council could nominate candidates, and Council vote to accept them.

My father served on this board. He left it, as work took him overseas for a year. And he was personally sued by a developer, a nuisance lawsuit. He was denied immunity, wrongfully, as he was not a PRESENT member.

Eventually he got legal cover from the city and the lawsuit was dismissed. What if there WERE no immunity?

What if every cop has to worry about whether the Woketard breaking heads of anti-abortion protesters, has a rich grandfather and can sue after arrest? Or if the SPLC or NAACP chooses to sue the cop who arrests the next George Floyd?

You'll have a world without police. Which sounds fun, doesn't it? It would work, if the world were filled with Stefan Molyneaux and Tom Luongo. It's not; and CHAD in Seattle should have demonstrated it.
 

Update:

Justices take up case on right to sue over mistaken SWAT raid - SCOTUSblog

The Supreme Court will weigh in on whether a Georgia family whose home was mistakenly raided by an FBI SWAT team can sue the federal government for the error. Just over six hours after the justices issued a list of orders from their Jan. 24 conference, and three days after they granted three cases f
www.scotusblog.com
 
ALBANY, N.Y. (Feb. 3, 2025) – A bill filed in the New York Senate seeks to abolish the doctrine of qualified immunity, paving the way for lawsuits against law enforcement officers in state court for rights violations.

Sen. Kevin Parker and Sen. Julia Salazar filed Senate Bill 3998 (S3998). Under the proposed law, a person subject to “the deprivation of any individual rights that create binding obligations on government actors secured by the bill of rights” in the New York state constitution would be able to sue in state court “for legal or equitable relief or any other appropriate relief.”

The legislation would exclude “qualified immunity” as a defense in such suits.

S3998 is similar to a bill filed last month in the state Assembly.

New York Senate Bill Would Abolish Qualified Immunity | Tenth Amendment Center

A bill filed in the New York Senate seeks to abolish the doctrine of qualified immunity, paving the way for lawsuits against law enforcement officers in state court for rights violations.
blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com
 

Update

Support From Across the Ideological Spectrum Pours in for Family Seeking Justice at the Supreme Court Over FBI Wrong House Raid - Institute for Justice

WASHINGTON—Before the sun rose over their Atlanta home one morning in 2017, Trina Martin, her son Gabe, and her partner Toi Cliatt were jolted awake […]
ij.org
 

SWAT Raids Wrong House, Sends Owner to Hospital​

Apr 2, 2025

When a SWAT team raids a family’s home in the middle of the night, the officers ought to be very sure they have the right house. But no officer did that the night a SWAT team raided an innocent family’s home in Willard, North Carolina, in April 2024. And the officers had indeed raided the wrong house. Officers terrorized the family with flash-bang grenades, shattered glass, and aimed guns at children as they were ordered out of their bedrooms.

The fugitive for whom the officers were looking was not at the home. Even worse, the officers lacked probable cause to believe he had ever been there. The officers misled a judge into issuing a warrant to search the house based on false information and omitted facts that pointed in the opposite direction. The raid left Alisa Carr, Avery Marshall, and their kids physically harmed; psychologically traumatized; and without a secure and clean home to live. Alisa and Avery can’t afford to repair the damage to the home. And the responsible counties have refused to compensate them for the destruction.

Hoping to prevent other families from suffering the same wrongs, Alisa and Avery have teamed up with IJ to hold the government accountable. Officers cannot lie or disregard obvious or known exculpatory information when applying for a warrant, misleading a judge into issuing a warrant without probable cause. And when officers intentionally destroy an innocent person’s property for the public use of apprehending a suspected criminal, the public as a whole should bear the cost of the damage, not innocent unlucky property owners.

5:01

Institute for Justice
 

Update:

Oakland Activist Will Appeal Federal Government’s Immunity from Constitutional Accountability - Institute for Justice

ARLINGTON, Va.—Entrepreneur and activist René Quiñonez will appeal the dismissal of his lawsuit challenging federal law enforcement’s baseless detention of his police-protest apparel and officers’ […]
ij.org
 

More:

Press Conference Announcing Federal Lawsuit to Hold SWAT Team Accountable for Raiding Wrong Home​

Streamed live 36 minutes ago

Today, a Pender County family filed a federal lawsuit against the Pender and Lee County Sheriff’s Departments after officers raided and damaged their home in April 2024, while searching for a suspect who had never been there.

Hoping to prevent other families from suffering the same wrongs, Alisa and Avery have teamed up with IJ to hold the government accountable

27:05
 
^^^^^^^
The "so called" supreme court is the reason this shit happens. No one should have qualified immunity for their actions.

Supreme Court of the United States
https://www.supremecourt.gov › opinions
[PDF]

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES​

The doctrine of qualified immunity shields officers from civil liability so long as their conduct “does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable …

NDLScholarship
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu › cgi › viewcontent.cgi
[PDF]

The Case Against Qualified Immunity - University of Notre Dame​

The United States Supreme Court has made clear that qualified immunity should protect “all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.”1 The Court dedicates an …
 
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