From KGUN9:

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) – This video of the shooting at Jose Guerena’s home has cast a huge spotlight on him and his family. A picture of Guerena has circulated where he’s dressed in his marine uniform but 9OYS has just received his booking photo where he’s dressed in an inmate jumpsuit.

Guerena was arrested in 2009 but never charged. 9OYS wanted to know why. Reporter Sergio Avila headed to Eloy Justice court to get the records. The documents show Guerena was arrested for drug possession, having drug paraphernalia and weapon misconduct.

9OYS also has discovered Guerena’s wife, Vanessa, paid a $2500 bond to bail him out of jail but that money was returned to her when no charges were filed.

In Arizona if the county attorney doesn’t file charges within 48 hours the person is set free. That’s what happened to Guerena, again, 9OYS wanted to know why.

The Pinal County attorney’s office released this statement on the case:

“A case regarding Mr. Jose Guerena was submitted to the Pinal County Attorney’s office and following review it was declined.”

The county attorney’s office says Guerena was arrested with two other people and the case just didn’t meet the requirements in order to charge him with a crime.

The county attorney’s office says that information has already been purged from their records as is common for older and smaller cases.

Swat team attorney Mike Storie has already told KGUN9 News, although no charges were filed, this earlier arrest of three suspects shows Guerena was involved in some wrongdoing.

“They had differing accounts of how they knew each other.  They had differing accounts of where they were going; where they were coming from,” Storie explained.  “This is typical of people who are together doing a drug deal.”

“Again, this is just consistent with somebody who is a possessor of drugs, conceals drugs, and it is certainly consistent with someone who deals with drugs,” Storie said.

But Storie also said that the SWAT team knew nothing of the previous arrest when it attempted to execute a search warrant at Guerena’s home on May 5.

More information on Guerena’s arrest will come in the police report KGUN9 News has already requested from DPS.

Perhaps this isn’t new details on the raid itself, but it certainly casts light on the attitude of the Tuscon police before, during and after the raid that took Guerena’s life.

So let’s be straight on this.  There were no charges filed in 2009.  The fact that he was arrested, along with the fact that three individuals gave partially contradictory statements is reason enough to send a heavily armed tactical team against his family, or at least to suspect that he was a criminal.

It couldn’t have been that the other two people arrested gave incorrect statements and he gave the only correct one, and it couldn’t have been that he simply never should have been arrested to begin with.  No.  The fact that the Tuscon police potentially screwed up once justified their suspicion of him.

I see.

I have not yet commented on the propriety of any charges against Mr. Guerena.  I am not in possession of the evidence, I wasn’t there, and I don’t know.  But what we know about the raid continues to make a compelling case that the wrong tactics topped off wrongheaded strategy in their quest to find the truth.  And the Tuscon police continue to add to their own bad reputation.

Prior:

Further Analysis of the Jose Guerena Raid

The Jose Guerena Raid: A Demonstration of Tactical Incompetence