CovOps
Location : Ether-Sphere Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator Humor : Über Serious
| Subject: Former Utah cop lied to a judge to get wiretaps, tried to destroy evidence in fire Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:07 pm | |
| Johnson was charged last month in 2nd District Court with two counts of second-degree felony drug distribution. Each count carries the possibility of one to 15 years in prison.
In parts of 2013 and 2014, Johnson was assigned to the Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force, where Johnson obtained a warrant to tap the phones of multiple people, according to court documents. Johnson suspected them of belonging to a drug trafficking ring operated by Ogden Trece — a gang local police have long attempted to vanquish. One defendant, Bobby Gilbert Martinez, 37, was charged in 2013 with 11 first-degree felonies related to drug distribution. Charges allege that through phone monitoring and on-site surveillance police determined Martinez was a regular distributor of methamphetamine for an Ogden woman who received the drugs from a Phoenix man, who got them from Mexico. Richards filed two motions Friday on behalf of Martinez. One asks that evidence obtained through the wiretaps be suppressed. The second motion asks that the charges be dismissed for violation of Martinez's due process. Both motions hinge on Johnson. Wiretaps require police meet a higher standard of probable cause than an average search warrant, including demonstrating to a judge that other investigative techniques have proven unsuccessful. Richards contends that the only other thing Johnson did to investigate Martinez was to arrange for an informant to twice buy drugs from another defendant. The informant has been unwilling to testify and the only evidence offered of the drug transactions is Johnson's testimony from an April 2014 preliminary hearing for Martinez, who was ordered by a judge to stand trial.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/2135493-155/defense-attorney-claims-former-utah-cop _________________ Anarcho-Capitalist, AnCaps Forum, Ancapolis, OZschwitz Contraband “The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual, crime.”-- Max Stirner "Remember: Evil exists because good men don't kill the government officials committing it." -- Kurt Hofmann |
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