{"id":45035,"date":"2020-08-22T11:31:30","date_gmt":"2020-08-22T16:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=45035"},"modified":"2020-08-23T17:27:02","modified_gmt":"2020-08-23T22:27:02","slug":"ms-knowingly-searching-wrong-house-because-of-choosing-to-disregard-error-in-sw-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=45035","title":{"rendered":"MS: Knowingly searching wrong house by choosing to disregard error in SW made Bureau of Narcotics liable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a case that smacks of the good faith exception causing a search of the wrong house that should never have happened, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics knowingly raided the wrong house without knocking and announcing. Trial testimony showed that the officers realized before the search the address in the warrant was wrong but decided to go ahead with the raid and search of the wrong house because a judge had signed off on it and it was otherwise authentic. Plaintiffs’ judgment for $50,000 affirmed. Miss. Bureau of Narcotics v. Hunter<\/a>, 2020 Miss. App. LEXIS 477 (Aug. 18, 2020):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u00b61. On April 24, 2015, the City of Vicksburg Police Department (hereinafter referred to as \u201cVPD\u201d) and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (hereinafter referred to as \u201cBureau\u201d) executed a \u201cno knock\u201d search warrant on the wrong house during a joint-narcotics operation. The task force was attempting to serve a \u201cno knock warrant\u201d on an individual who resided at 525 Feld Street in Vicksburg, Mississippi, but instead put 523 Feld Street on the warrant and went into the wrong house. The wrong house belonged to Henry Hunter and Rita Hunter, who were present at the time of the early morning \u201cno knock\u201d entry. Law enforcement initially detained the Hunters but released them when they realized the error. Before entry on the Hunter\u2019s home, an officer with the VPD told the task force agents they were about to enter the wrong house, but the agents proceeded anyway. <\/p>

. . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u00b65. On April 24, 2015, at approximately 5 a.m., Bureau agents and VPD agents met at Sherman Avenue Elementary School in Vicksburg for a general briefing. Bureau Agent Evan Storr was the team leader for executing the warrant. As the officers approached the residence, VPD Officer Kimble realized the mistaken address and informed Bureau Officer Storr that the targeted individual did not live at 523 Feld Street. Nevertheless, Bureau Officer Storr proceeded with the \u201cno knock\u201d warrant because 523 Feld Street was the address listed on the search warrant.
<\/p>

. . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>

\u00b6 31. The trial testimony revealed that the Bureau did not follow “standard procedure” in reviewing and returning the search warrants. Specifically, Bureau Officer Whitten testified that Bureau Officer Harris was responsible for verifying the addresses on the search warrants and that he did not perform a thorough check before returning them to Bureau Officer Whitten. In his deposition and at trial, Bureau Officer Harris claimed that the address on the affidavit and warrant was based on information the VPD provided to the Bureau. However, the VPD’s arrest records, which were admitted at trial, showed the suspected drug dealer’s address as 525 Feld Street and not the house next door at 523 Feld Street, which was owned by the Hunters. Further, Bureau Officer Storr admitted that VPD Officer Kimble, who was raised in Vicksburg and knew both the suspect and the Hunters, notified him before entry that they were at the wrong address. VPD Officer Kimble suggested they do a “knock and talk” instead. Ultimately, Bureau Officer Storr admitted that VPD Officer Kimble had notified him of the mistake, but he chose to proceed with the “no knock” warrant on that address because the warrant “was sworn to by another [Bureau] agent and was signed by a judge [and he had] no doubt [in] the authenticity of that warrant.” \u00b6 32. The safety and security of one’s home is paramount in a society as ours where the rule of law reigns supreme and government is restrained by the Constitution that created it. “No knock” warrants at night are an inherently dangerous governmental operation. The trial court found the officers acted in reckless disregard by ignoring the evidence clearly before them of the wrong address and yet, despite that knowledge, failed to take any corrective steps to preserve the safety of those involved, including the individuals inside the home that was the subject of the search. Upon review, we find the evidence to be “substantial, credible, and reasonable” so as to support the trial judge’s finding that the Bureau acted in reckless disregard in executing the “no knock” warrant. See Law, 65 So. 3d at 827 (\u00b644). Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This case converts a mistake that could have easily been remedied by going back to the judge and having the warrant interlineated with the correct address and the judge initial the change. But no. They decide to proceed to search what they knew was the wrong house and claim that \u201ca judge approved of it, so what?\u201d How could anybody believe that a search warrant for the wrong place should be executed? Or that would be executed in good faith? From the testimony, and reading between the lines, this has all the signs that either they believed the good faith exception would protect them or that they just didn’t care that they were going to violate the Fourth Amendment rights of the innocent homeowner. And what if the innocent homeowner decided to shoot first and ask questions later?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, the defense is lucky the verdict was only $50,000. Punitives can’t be awarded against governmental entities, at least in \u00a7 1983 cases, but it could be against the officers who did it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a case that smacks of the good faith exception causing a search of the wrong house that should never have happened, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics knowingly raided the wrong house without knocking and announcing. Trial testimony showed that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-good-faith-exception","category-knock-and-announce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45035"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45092,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45035\/revisions\/45092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}