Criminal Justice
Lawyer’s go well with claims raid was retaliation for profitable protection; metropolis sees allegations as baseless
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The metropolis of Roanoke, Virginia, is searching for to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a lawyer who claims that police raided her dwelling in retaliation for efficiently defending her stepson on homicide prices.
The movement to dismiss, filed July 21 in Roanoke federal courtroom, mentioned the go well with filed by lawyer Cathy Reynolds has a number of baseless allegations relating to the September 2019 raid, the Roanoke Times experiences.
Police mentioned they obtained a warrant for the raid based mostly on data from a confidential informant who mentioned a juvenile homicide suspect in one other case had been seen on the dwelling.
In her April 19 suit, Reynolds mentioned the search warrant was based mostly on fabricated or uncorroborated data.
The youth was later arrested in a special location. Publications with prior protection of Reynolds’ go well with are the Roanoke Times, the Washington Post and Reason.
A SWAT group from the Roanoke City Police Department arrived at Reynolds’ dwelling in an armored automobile and used it to tear the display door from the house, although Reynolds had supplied to allow them to enter, the go well with mentioned. The operation tore vinyl siding from the outside of Reynolds’ newly reworked dwelling. Officers then opened one other unlocked door to enter.
SWAT officers searched drawers, indifferent home equipment from the partitions of the house, flipped mattresses, tore garments from closets, tore cushions off furnishings and emptied open soda cans onto the ground, the go well with mentioned. The search brought on hundreds of money in injury.
Reynolds, who’s Black, mentioned police didn’t retaliate in opposition to two white attorneys intertwined in her stepson’s protection. She alleges that the raid was motivated by racial animus.
Her go well with, filed under Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act, seeks damages for an unreasonable search, violation of her First Amendment proper to advocate for acquittal, and violation of the precise to equal safety.
The city’s brief in help of the movement to dismiss mentioned SWAT officers had been unaware that Reynolds had granted consent to officers on the scene whereas others secured a search warrant. The search was performed to search out “a small young man” who weighed solely 110 kilos, town mentioned.
“This involves checking to see if drawers pull out to expose a recessed area where a small person could be hiding, as well as checking between mattresses, under cushions, and behind appliances, again, where a small motivated young man could hide,” the temporary mentioned.
The metropolis’s temporary mentioned all claims associated with the search ought to be tossed as a result of permission was given to police. In any occasion, Reynolds didn’t current factual help for her claims that false statements had been used to acquire a warrant or that the raid was motivated by retaliation and racial animus, town mentioned.
