Repeater
Regular Member
This is scary -- anyone heard of Detective Jason Norton?
Judge tosses guilty pleas over information in Richmond search warrants
Here is what's scary:
Norton 'asked' if he could search the car, and Andrews said no.
So Norton obtained a search warrant for the car -- and lied on the affidavit in order to get it.
This could possible happen to anybody here.
And what the Hell is the Violence Suppression Team?
Judge tosses guilty pleas over information in Richmond search warrants
A federal judge Wednesday tossed out convictions against three men who pleaded guilty in Richmond to drug and firearms charges years ago, citing the strong possibility false information was used to obtain search warrants.
But U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson — noting that setting aside a conviction for violating fundamental fairness is an extraordinary remedy — three times Wednesday wrote: “This appears to be such a case.”
According to orders issued last year by U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne in the Andrews and Archer cases, the U.S. Attorney’s Office told the court that a former Richmond police officer, Jason Norton, “likely included in the language used in search warrant applications submitted by him information that was erroneous, if not false, regarding the reliability of confidential informants.”
Judge Hudson wrote Wednesday that the three men maintain they would not have pleaded guilty to the charges were it not for the evidence seized on the basis of the false affidavit and would have insisted on going to trial.
Norton was a member of a small Violence Suppression Team that targeted large narcotics traffickers and violent offenders.
Norton could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A Richmond police spokesman, Gene Lepley, said Norton was hired as a recruit on April 5, 2004, and left the department as a police officer on July 1, 2013.
...
Hudson wrote in his opinions Wednesday that each man argued he be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea because they were based on false information used to obtain search warrants.
The judge added that federal prosecutors, after conducting a thorough investigation, did not object to the motions from the three men and in each case, “concedes there is a high probability that critical information contained in the search warrant affidavit is false.”
Here is what's scary:
A uniformed officer stopped the car driven by Andrews at Third and Jackson streets. Norton asked Andrews if he could search the car. Andrews refused and Norton obtained a search warrant for the car.
The search of the car turned up a brown Nike bag holding more than 33 grams of heroin, a loaded .357 caliber semi-automatic handgun and other items. Andrews had two prior convictions, for possession of cocaine and possession of crack cocaine.
Andrews’ lawyer at the time, the late Murray J. Janus, unsuccessfully sought to have the evidence thrown out because he argued it was seized without a valid search warrant.
Norton 'asked' if he could search the car, and Andrews said no.
So Norton obtained a search warrant for the car -- and lied on the affidavit in order to get it.
This could possible happen to anybody here.
And what the Hell is the Violence Suppression Team?