October 5th 2021 archive

Covering an event that happened in my city in 2014.

This is the picture of someone who has been in the local jail for seven years, so, I mean… so much for a fair and speedy trial, right? But in May of 2014, police officers attempted to execute a no-knock warrant on this man’s apartment, and as soon as he realized that someone was breaking into his home — even if they were cops — he began firing back, and in the midst of everyone firing, a cop was shot beyond the confines of his bulletproof garb and would later succumb to that injury at a local hospital. This man, pictured right here, is facing the death penalty because that can be applied to someone in our state if they shoot and kill a member of the police. On a tip from what would later be revealed to be a bad informant, local law enforcement was able to get approval to execute a no-knock warrant in a matter of minutes. The judge who made this decision seriously made it in a matter of minutes. During the raid on his apartment, an officer tripped over a flash grenade which would come to obscure everyone’s vision. It is entirely possible that the cop who was shot was shot as a result of friendly fire, and this has been acknowledged. No attempts have been made to determine whether it was a bullet from Guy’s gun or a bullet from a police officer’s gun that killed this man.

As soon as this man realized that it was members of the police who had entered his home, he surrendered. In exchange, the police threatened to kill him as they arrested him, and in the process several of his girlfriend’s ribs were broken. Later, after he was arrested, his apartment was thoroughly searched, and there was absolutely no contraband or drugs in the apartment… none whatsoever. Despite the fact that our state is a Castle Doctrine (“castle law”) state, and one is under the law allowed to injure and possibly kill anyone who breaks into their domicile if they are a threat to their life, Guy currently sits in the county jail facing the death penalty for this. Years later, in large part due to this incident, no-knock warrants became illegal in our city. But the fact of the matter is that they were legal at the time this happened… and three public defenders so far have tried to encourage him to take a plea bargain in this case, which he refuses to do to this day.

I remember when this happened. I remember waking up at five in the morning clearly hearing gunfire. Since this city is… a bit known for the high crime rate that it has, I went back to sleep, but I would later come to find out that the entire street that this happened on had been blocked off, so I had to find an alternate route to my son’s speech therapy. Here I am though, wondering when this “speedy trial” will take place for this man.