*******

Lets see, July tip, raid conducted in Feb. vs. Tip from crook, get warrant based upon info, raid in three days, investigation consisted of two daytime drivebys.

I see a massive difference!

Oh and of course the activity should not be against any laws anyway, adding to the frustration by all.

An investigation where the police conduct surveillance of the suspected grow operation and conduct one or more controlled buys (the FBI likes to do a lot of controlled buys) and then go get a warrant really is pretty much exactly how you would want the investigation to go.

I don’t think anyone can seriously argue that if the police observe higher than normal traffic to a home and purchase drugs from its occupants that the police don’t have probable cause to get a warrant (I think undercover agents should do the buys, not CI’s, who are obviously compromised).

Then, the police take that warrant and (ideally) serve the warrant as the occupants of the house are leaving or returning, so there is no need for open combat operations on main street and there is no chance that the occupants can destroy evidence.

No violence necessary, the police conduct a valid search, and if they find sufficient evidence to arrest the occupants, they can do so.

Of course, all of that assumes that growing and selling drugs should be illegal, a proposition with which I disagree. Nonetheless, it should be possible for the police to conduct reasonable and responsible investigations of all sorts without resorting to excessive violence.

N.B.: I support repeal of all drug purchase and use restrictions, except in a few situations (like antibiotics) where there are bona fide public health issues.

I’m just suspicious because the story seems to always be the same… ‘got tip’… ‘watched for several months’ … ‘raided house’.

And yet, you still get cases where a house 2 doors down and across the street gets raided, or there was clearly no actual investigation done… or what have you.

Any idiot with an amp meter should be able to find evidence of a grow op this large within a week… there had to be 30K watts of lighting in there, minimum. Last I checked, power doesn’t enter your house by magic, it goes through wires that extend past your property lines.

Sure, they COULD have done actual investigation, then had Officer Friendly calmly knock on the door with a warrant in his hand… but I doubt it.

I bet, they still used the SWAT gear! But, on the other side, maybe they did see more, than the usual, traffic to the house involved in the successful (non-fatal) raid. That is instead of the lack of it, seen at Ryan’s house! I remember reading, in past articles that lead to the impression that drug dealers were next door, (or crack houses) was the fact that people were coming on and going all of the time, at all hours of the day! Even the neighbors could see that! I would think it would not take a “crack” police force to be able to observe what a neighborhood watch could, in an investigation of “several months”! Not that any drug raid for MJ is morally legitimate. The laws are applied, as in most cases in this country, as the LE people desire!

{clip]
According to search warrants, detectives got a tip about the operation last July. After watching the home for several months and compiling evidence, officers decided to go in.
[clip]”

How is that more valid? That’s EXACTLY what happened in the Frederick case. They got a tip and watched his home for several months, too.

They probably just got lucky and hit oil on this well! I’m going to assume that THESE detectives are just as shit-tastically incompetent at ‘investigating’ as the Frederick crew was.

Look at the pattern… “Get Tip” … “pretend to investigate” … execute a bust.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut eventually… This could have just as easily resulted in a wrong door raid that killed innocent people.

Show me the fucking transparency… the checks and balances against a possible botched raid.

How to conduct a VALID police operation and bust a REAL grow operation..

{clip]
According to search warrants, detectives got a tip about the operation last July. After watching the home for several months and compiling evidence, officers decided to go in.
[clip]

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/02/frederick-jury-goes-home-after-day-deliberations

Nothing.

I’m getting out my sharpest pen and crispest stationary – the “Free Ryan Frederick” campaign will probably have to start tomorrow.

Gods, I’m depressed.

Omar isn’t in the court to give updates…Omar is in London teaching a software class, no doubt being watched by the security cameras as he types.

I’m getting my info from here…

http://hamptonroads.com/tags/shiversshooting

…and was begging someone else with info for an update. :P

Google search terms: “nobody talks everybody walks prisoner’s dilemma”

“There’s a saying among criminal defense lawyers: If nobody talks, everybody walks. That’s not always entirely true, but it is true that the more defendants stand fast and make the government prove their case, the better it is for the other defendants doing so. The prisoner’s dilemma applies, though.”

http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/2008/12/everybody-gets-convicted-anyway.html

http://hamptonroads.com/polls/what-should-verdict-be-ryan-frederick039s-murder-trial

Like the woman’s T-shirt says … “Nobody talks, everybody walks”.

This case just pisses me off so much.

From:
http://tidewaterliberty.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/ryan-frederick-trial-day-five/

“Det. Meinhart (sp?) introduced a number of items recovered in the search of the house and garage, including small amounts of marijuana, a smoking device, literature on marijuana and, in the attic, un-assembled parts of grow lights. From the attic of the garage, tubs for two hydroponic setups and other supporting accessories.

On cross examination, Det. Meinhart (sp?) explained hydroponics production of marijuanna and that one mature plant produced 8 to 12 ounces of smoking material.”

Besides Ebert’s apparent memory lapse on how much bud Meinhart said you can get from a plant, I don’t think you’re gunna get that much from some stuff stored in the attic. You actually have to be using it to… you know… grow pot.

That said, if $400 per WHOLE ounce is “not too far out” for “big city pricing”, then I suppose I’ll have to tack that on to my already extensive list of reasons the Pacific NW is absolutely exceptional.

Oh, and, thank you, Mr. Willburn. I was being glib in my initial response; I realize you weren’t the one making these outlandish claims. Mah bad.

If they are growing to sell, they are going to do so in bulk, which is done at a much lower rate per ounce than street value. You don’t often see a guy who is growing plants on one end, and selling dime bags on the other end.

Of course this isn’t unique to this case: whenever you hear about multi-kilogram seizures of anything, they value it in terms of the per-gram street price. This is never what the bulk package is worth to the seller.

Too late, you said it bro. Better get a bullet proof vest for your dog.

Thank you for that post. I started in on something similar and gave up after a couple paragraphs. There are far too many variables at play. I daresay experience is just as important as lumens, probably moreso. Give the same setup to two people, one amateur and one expert, and you’ll get vastly different results.

And yes, it is very possible he could grow enough to sell. He wouldn’t be doing anything other than offsetting some costs and would still be in the red after expenses, but he’d have home grown weed and a little bit of extra cash.

Party: Democratic Party of Virginia
Email: pebert@pwcgov.org
Website: N/A
Phone: N/A
Address: 9311 Lee Ave Ste 200
Manassas, VA 20110

…perhaps more appropriately on this board, the difference between a bacon wrapped hot dog and a bacon wrapped porterhouse.

I just want to say that in the midst of yet more depression on this board (damn you Radley), the above quote definitely made me smile.

Yeah. If its coming out of texas, its usually shit.