Family Awarded Nothing For SWAT Raid Over Tea Leaves
BY Herschel Smith
6 years, 11 months ago
A Leawood couple who were mistakenly targeted in a 2012 police drug raid have lost their lawsuit against Johnson County.
A federal court jury late Tuesday afternoon found that Adlynn and Robert Harte were not entitled to any monetary damages as a result of the raid by deputies with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
They maintained in the lawsuit that some deputies lied to a judge to obtain a warrant for the search of the Hartes’ home.
In a written statement released by their attorneys after the verdict, the Hartes said they and their children were grateful that they had the opportunity to tell their story to a jury, and that they intend to appeal.
“Although they are understandably disappointed in the outcome, they know that standing up for their rights as citizens was important — not only for themselves and their family, but also to preserve the vitality of the Fourth Amendment for all citizens,” their attorneys said in their statement. “They will never forget the day of the raid, and they believe their speaking out has helped to bring about positive change in Kansas’ open records law and in police practices.”
An attorney for the sheriff’s office also released a written statement.
“On behalf of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and the deputies we thank the jury for their service,” said Lawrence Ferree. “The Hartes had their day in court. The system worked. Hopefully the Hartes and the deputies can put this behind them and move forward.”
The Hartes were targeted for the search after a trip to a hydroponics gardening store drew the attention of law enforcement officers.
Deputies then took trash bags from outside the couple’s home that contained brewed loose tea. Deputies said that field testing of the tea registered positive for marijuana.
The information was used to establish probable cause for a judge to issue a search warrant.
But it was never submitted to a laboratory for more conclusive testing before the raid.
Officers armed with assault rifles conducted the raid on the couple’s home while their children, a seventh-grader and a kindergartner, were present.
The raid was timed to coincide with a planned press conference about the effort to fight marijuana trafficking.
But after a 2 1/2-hour search by deputies and a trained dog, all they found were the tomato plants the family was growing with the hydroponic equipment.
They filed suit in in 2013, but a federal judge dismissed the case in 2015.
The Hartes appealed and last July, a federal appeals court panel reinstated the suit on the issue of whether deputies lied about the test results in order to get the search warrant.
The Hartes contended that the deputies lied, making the warrant invalid and the search of their home unconstitutional.
Take careful note of the law enforcement response. I couldn’t care less about tea leaves or Cannabis. This was a man’s home, his castle. Someone invaded it. That someone, i.e., law enforcement, takes the position that the family had their day in court, and the right outcome was reached. They are left unfettered to invade homes as they please, tearing up things, endangering lives, and violating the constitution.
They hate you. Realize that. Law enforcement hates you. You are the peasants, they are the king’s men. Also realize that this award of nothing was given by a jury. The American people apparently want a police state. The “sheeple” have decided they want “security” more than liberty.
They will end up having neither.
On December 21, 2017 at 9:42 am, Sean said:
Ask anyone who supports this destructive behavior, and the stupid “War on (some) Drugs” – “How many dead are you willing to accept to force people not to smoke pot?” I have NEVER had anyone answer that question – they just continue to either deflect or copsuck.
On December 21, 2017 at 11:06 am, Michael said:
Well said, Hershel, well said.
I have very little faith in juries. Judging by the comments I see on other sites, most (or at least many) Americans don’t care about liberty, freedom, or anything related to it. They see the state as their god and they worship accordingly.
Always appreciate your commentary.
On December 21, 2017 at 11:08 am, Ned said:
People have been beaten and arrested for seat belt violations. they’re gonna keep you safe even if it kills ya…
On December 21, 2017 at 11:14 am, Fred said:
The 4th amendment? Quaint language of era gone by.
More that 30 years, 1 trillion dollars, a couple of hundred thousand death, a burgeoning police state – prison industrial complex and here we are; mind and mood altering substances are more prevalent by both quantity and variety than ever and they are also stronger and more dangerous. Nobody, NOBODY, who wants one these substances is more than mildly inconvenienced in it’s acquisition.
The war on drugs, by way of fact, has failed. Better double the budget and hire more ‘men’.
On December 21, 2017 at 11:42 am, Ken said:
Who are the idiots on this jury?!?! How could any sane person decide this case in fagornof the government thugs? There’s no way in the world I would ever vote in their favor if i was on that jury.
On December 21, 2017 at 2:14 pm, Jack Crabb said:
Pigs gotta pig. Lawyers gotta pig, too.
I guess my lack of faith in humanity is warranted. Yeah, jury nullification will work… smh
On December 21, 2017 at 3:01 pm, Randolph Scott said:
You would have to live in the Leawood and surrounding areas to understand the pigassed cops and the people chosen to be jurors. It is a very well todo area in Johnson County and not in KC proper, I bet there are 10 black people living in Leawood and that would be because the male children are superstar HS football players.
The people who live there mostly feel entitled, always think they are better than anyone else and these will be your jury of peers. The pigs feel the same way, they feel entitled, act like assholes because hey, they were the ones chosen to enforce the. A little farther south/west in Olathe is where all the illegal mexicants live. Yep, 20 in a 3 bedroom apartment and there the pigs act like thugs, and the rest of the middle class people just try to get along, keep their mouths shut and not make any waves lest their little piece of nirvanna gets messed with.
I lived in the Olathe area for 10 years and left in 2007. You have to be there to understand the way it is.
I seem to recall the the homeowners in this case were both SeeAyeAAA employees. Poetic JustUs. ha, ha.
On December 22, 2017 at 12:13 pm, revjen45 said:
What to the pigs have to put behind them? They aren’t the injured party. They act like assholes (is that one word or two?) because the ARE assholes.
On December 23, 2017 at 4:52 am, Dan said:
Makes one wonder how many members of this jury….or their family members had “interactions” with local LEO while this case was being heard. Wouldn’t take much in the way of annoying traffic stops etc.
to get the message across that the jury needs to come to the “proper
verdict”. Nothing is as rotten as LOCAL POLITICS.
On December 26, 2017 at 10:39 am, CK Hartline said:
Read the details of this post, the trial was about whether or not the police lied about tests to get a warrant. Any lab can run tests and get an albeit “false” positive result. That doesn’t make the police who enforced the results and sought a warrant–wrong. As citizens who value liberty, we have to look at the whole case. The Sheriff’s Dept. was staking out the hydroponics store. Hydroponics isn’t illegal, but is a means used by people who attempt to grow marijuana in secret. Does this make the Harte family look suspicious? No, not at all. In fact well intended officers thought they had a big operation to shut down. They were wrong, and while the family was indeed terrorized by S.W.A.T., there was no remorse on the part of the Sheriff’s Dept. What was owed to the family was an apology for getting it wrong, and an attempt to right the wrong done to them. The family went for money, and got it wrong as well. Were I on that jury and no evidence was shown that the test was falsified or damning evidence the Deputies lied, I would find them not guilty as well. That doesn’t mean the family was not wronged. They most definitely as the search proved out–were wronged by the Sheriff’s Dept. of Johnson County.
All that said, I can’t argue with the post. People are lulled into thinking security is more important than liberty. The people enforcing the law are no longer seen as public servants, but as “government agents with a quota” who seldom see themselves as anything less than “paid enforcers” where “everyone is guilty, they just haven’t been caught yet”.
Not all cops are “bad” and not all hydroponic purchases are for growing illegal drugs. What our country needs is humility, and a willingness to apologize when the evidence doesn’t back up the warrant. That might mean an unmasked Sheriff sitting down with the family and apologizing and the perhaps a weekend or two of seeing that repairs are made and items replaced by off-duty deputies. But, that’s not what we have. I’ve seen too many vehicles stripped out on the side of the road with drivers left to put them back together. The problems aren’t about stopping the crime as much as it is about taking responsibility when your “hunch” is wrong and righting that wrong with an apology and taking the time to undo your mistaken search.
They may just be “doing their job” but there’s a way of going about it that can either unite a community, or continue the divide between those in power and the rest just trying to get by.
On December 27, 2017 at 4:42 pm, Jack Crabb said:
This is the new paradigm, CK Hartline:
“The whole Good Cop / Bad Cop question can be disposed of much more decisively. We need only consider the following:
(1) A cop’s job is to enforce the laws, all of them;
(2) Many of the laws are manifestly unjust, and some are even cruel and wicked;
(3) Therefore every cop has to agree to act as an enforcer for laws that are manifestly unjust or even cruel and wicked.
There are no good cops.”
— Robert Higgs
On December 27, 2017 at 11:17 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@CK Hartline,
I do not believe in the war on drugs.
I do not believe in the invasion of another man’s home. His home is his castle. This is a non-negotiable Biblical precept. If you need evidence for your trials against someone, knock on his door. If he flushes it down the toilet, that’s too damn bad. I don’t care. The Biblical precept is more weighty than your war on drugs.
You have moral authority to invade a home only when someone’s life is in danger, like a kidnapping and hostage situation.
I don’t want to be “united” with anyone who believes it’s okay to invade another man’s home. It’s not.
Apologies from LEOs are laughable. I couldn’t care less.
As for whether the LEOs lied, I don’t care. They may as well have. They took tea leaves and gave it to goober forensics folks who then went back to the goober LEOs who then went to goober prosecutors (or directly to goober judges) to get warrants to bust in another man’s home, and point weapons at his family thus violating the most basic rules of gun safety (muzzle flagging innocent people).
Did you have your fingers on the trigger too? That would be the second rule.