Are "No-knock" warrants legal (or used) in MA?

[dwarven1]

Saw this story http://www.thisistrue.com/drugs.html in my weekly issue of This Is True about a guy who was killed when cops broke down his door. The guy was a licensed gun owner who tried to defend himself... and got killed.

So I was wondering if no-knock warrants are used in MA? LenS, CX, KenM... comments?

 

[C-pher]

That's some interesting reading, and scary...

I would think that people would be doing this all the time. More so if they are law abiding people that just happen to live in bad areas.

 

[Admin]

It would be ugly if that happened in my house. Although it's usually a group of guys with vests that come in. I may check fire if that were the case. I don't think the bad guys are that organized.

 

[dwarven1]

Although it's usually a group of guys with vests that come in. I may check fire if that were the case.

Unfortunately, Derek, if you have a gun in your hand, they may not. That's what the whole thrust of this article was about.

Let's face it... someone starts knocking down your door, what's the immediate reaction?

Ross

 

[Admin]

I know what you are saying.

 

[Len-2A Training]

Read this story and I think it will answer your question! [cry]

This happened in 1994, Boston.
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/caas/library/PoliceBrutalityjpegs/BostonOfficial_Jet.jpg

Other than being more "careful" that the address they raid is actually correct, nothing has really changed. [Boston is very convoluted, some buildings have multiple entrances, each with their own address . . . my understanding is that this was the case that led to Rev. Accelyne Williams' death in 1994.

No-Knock warrants are authorized where the police have reason to believe:
- the people are armed and given a warning, they are likely to shoot at the police, or
- they have evidence that could quickly be flushed down the toilet/destroyed if given a warning (e.g. drugs).

Yes, if the police invade your home for any reason and they see you with a gun, it is very likely that they will shoot you (you are unlikely to be given the chance to put it down before the lead flies) and they will have legal justification as long as they had a legal "right" to be there.

 

[dwarven1]

I remember that now... there was a big stink in the papers, but nothing more. Was a lawsuit ever filed?

 

[KMaurer]

Now if somebody were to crash through my door, uninvited and unannounced, carrying a gun, and I were to react in my notmal and prudent manner, i.e., putting two in the center of mass and one in the head, one tends to wonder just how quickly the system would be to write it all off as self-defense, being a reasonable response to a perceived threat. One would have to be completely blind to reality in order to believe that the benefits of the war on drugs come anywhere near the costs.

Ken

 

[dwarven1]

Now if somebody were to crash through my door, uninvited and unannounced, carrying a gun, and I were to react in my notmal and prudent manner, i.e., putting two in the center of mass and one in the head, one tends to wonder just how quickly the system would be to write it all off as self-defense, being a reasonable response to a perceived threat.

Are you kidding, Ken? You would be vilified in the press as a paranoid gun nut! And no one would say a mumblin' word about self-defense.

One would have to be completely blind to reality in order to believe that the benefits of the war on drugs come anywhere near the costs.

Or a politician... of any stripe.

 

[Len-2A Training]

Ken, the other 5 guys behind the one you ventilated would empty their mags into you. What was written afterwards wouldn't really be relevant, as you wouldn't survive the event . . . that's a 100% certainty (unless you were shooting from a 3' thick concrete bunker with only peepholes for shooting thru).

Yes, the Rev's widow got a cash settlement from the City of Boston some years later (I think it took 4-5 years for them to cough it up).