Warrant Update

I just got confirmation that judges in Atlanta do, literally, use a rubber stamp to sign search warrants.

So the forgery question is moot.

Previous warrant entry and list of previous Johnston raid entries here.

Comments

J sub D | November 28, 2006, 4:15pm | #

So judges have allowed themselves to be reduced to the level of career bureaucrats. How sad.

shep | November 28, 2006, 4:27pm | #

Nice! Suppose a snitch suggested the address of one of these "rubber stamp" judges? Undoubtedly the warrant would get issued. At least we would hope so.

Thorley Winston | November 28, 2006, 4:28pm | #

Why not update your original post so that your readers know more readily that it was an electronic signature and not a forgery as you suggested?

Jesse Walker | November 28, 2006, 4:32pm | #

He did, Thorley. Did you miss the last line?

http://reason.com/blog/show/116925.html

Timothy | November 28, 2006, 5:06pm | #

I believe that judges in Georgia may use this man as a role model.

Andrew | November 28, 2006, 5:16pm | #

(long-time reader, first time commenter...)

Really, is this any less worrisome than if it had been a forgery? What's the point of even having a system where you go to judges for a warrant if they're simply going to (literally) rubber-stamp any warrant that's put in front of them?

Crusader Rabbit | November 28, 2006, 5:23pm | #

What Andrew said.  And does this revelation make the whole Johnston saga better or worse?

Thomas Paine's Goiter | November 28, 2006, 5:25pm | #

Worse. It gives the pigs an out. They can blame the judge.

omar | November 28, 2006, 5:35pm | #

If you hung up a "fuck the police" flag in your yard, do you think the police would pay you a visit? Do you think they would knock?

Aresen | November 28, 2006, 6:11pm | #

omar

It would depend whether you operated a whorehouse or a crack house.

omar | November 28, 2006, 6:35pm | #

As long as we put up with this garbage, we are all whores. Or smoking crack.

Law enforcement always wants us to give them special leeway when it comes to applying force. They say "If we mess up, it's because we thought we were in danger, and we have to protect ourselves."

I disagree. Law enforcement officers volunteer ed for their job, old women did not. In addition, government is the only group of people granted the right to use force to get their way. We should hold them to a higher standard than we do ourselves. We need to prosecute more cops for negligent death. I have a lot more sympathy for a private citizen who mistakenly kills in self-defense than I do for a law-enforcement officer who does the same.

sage | November 28, 2006, 6:39pm | #

Omar,

Being an old person is not a job. It's not adventure either, but you never claimed that it was.

Other than that, I agree with you. One of the two bumper stickers I have on my truck says "Pigs Shouldn't Rule."

Sparky | November 28, 2006, 8:01pm | #

Sorry if this is old news, but I didn't see it in a quick scan here - word now is that the informant lied on instructions he received from police after they shot Johnston. He says he has never been to the house, let alone bought anything there. Also, no cocaine was found but apparently a small amount of weed was. It's now an official FBI investigation. Here's a link to the NPR story from this afternoon's All Things Considered:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6550601

(There's also some confusion about her age - police are saying 88, family members are saying 92....)

Sparky | November 28, 2006, 8:05pm | #

Oops - I see upon closer inspection that a lot of that is old news here, and I've just completely missed out on the updates. Damn narcolepsy....

bigbigslacker | November 28, 2006, 8:52pm | #

Given the other circumstances, I find little reason to believe the weed existed on the property before the raid.

Michael Chaney | November 28, 2006, 11:51pm | #

The criminals/officers involved have demonstrably lied about every other aspect of this raid. At this point, no reasonable person with the facts in hand would even entertain the possibility that they actually did find drugs in the house.

Pretty much all we have left to find out is why they decided to raid her house.

Britt | November 29, 2006, 1:21pm | #

I haven't read the actual statement as to what lead to the death of the 92 year old woman. It isn't like she charged them or moved quickly, so what are the trigger mens excuse?

This needs to be a bigger stink on national news. The law makes examples out of us, lets make examples out of them.