Friends For Fullerton's Future

Judging by the language in the complaint as quoted above, Mr. Herman seems to be implying that Mr Raya was not properly informed, and that this issue has come up before: he’s describing the task force as a death squad.

I hope he’s successful in getting a judgment against the city and the officer, and is able to put further restraints in place to limit unbridled police powers.

Dear CackleFoos,
The answer is yes, many people have been executed for resisting arrest pursuant to a warrant that was issued for a misdemeanor crime.

In historic times, legislators understood that arrests pursuant to warrant were the big opportunity for marshalls and other local law enforcement to murder people with impunity. That is why it is a felony to swear out a misdemeanor crime! Because it might lead to the issuance of an arrest warrant, and that, in turn, could lead to a “privileged” murder by law enforcement.

It is clear as daylight, that historically there was a problem with widespread refusals by law enforcement to serve arrest warrants, even though they might not hesitate to serve a Summons for a criminal case. You can see the more modern laws that criminalize the dereliction to serve an arrest warrant, and that even allow a marshall to involuntarily conscript an ordinary citizen to serve on a “posse comitatus”.

And here is why: it is possible for an arrest, pursuant to warrant, to be a false arrest. If the warrant turns out to be void as a matter of law, then Penal Code section 843 will not be applicable. Therefore, resistance by the citizen against whom a void warrant had issued was justified, just as much as it would be for an unlawful “warrantless” arrest.

So imagine this scenario. You are a policeman. You serve a court-issued warrant. You use lethal violence to enforce it, but some of your colleagues are killed in the process. The warrant turns out to be void. Now, the individuals who served the warrant are guilty of the accused’s murder, as well as the murder of the other peace officers.

Void, as opposed to “voidable”, arrest warrants are rare, but they do occur. The fact that the magistrate screwed up, or that a private consulting attorney screwed up, can make some “reliance on counsel” defenses to a civil tort action. But “ignorantia lex neminem excusat” — ignorance of the law is no excuse. And all of us, police included, are charged with the knowledge of the contents of all publicly-accessible files, including those for initiation of a criminal case. All of us — all of the people who have not been to law school are included — are presumed to know when probable cause for the issuance of an arrest warrant is lacking, as a matter of law. And accordingly, one has a duty to refuse to act upon it. Just like a public official has a duty to refuse to enforce a judgment that is absolutely void, and subject to “collateral attack”.

As the world became more complex, society was willing to trade in individual common law liberties in exchange for greater police protection, and the resulting apparent safety. So a series of small incursions into the Common Law system of “law and order” occurred over about 100 years, thus changing the balance of power between individual citizens and law enforcement officers.

I don’t call for “rolling back” all of these Police State reforms; I think many are necessary for a modern society. The problem I have, is that we refuse to educate the least-powerful element of our society about these things, thus maneuvering them into situations where they can be lawfully executed in an “extrajudicial” manner. That was why I recommended certain things to cause at least parolees to learn this area of law that affects them.
WSH