In the middle of the night, someone breaks into your home through the window. What’s a guy to do? What’s a guy to do in Texas?
[T]he simpler explanation is that he was awakened by armed men breaking into his home and did what he thought he needed to do to defend himself. Especially since that’s exactly what these raids are designed to do: take you by surprise.
So Marvin Louis Guy fired.
Police Detective Charles “Chuck” Dinwiddie, 47, and Officer Odis Denton, 37, were shot as they and other officers served the narcotics search warrant just after 5:30 a.m. Friday at 1104 Circle M Dr. Apt. 3 in Killeen.
Dinwiddie died at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the intensive care unit of Scott & White Hospital.
All the reasons that make perfect sense from the police point of view for executing a narcotics search warrant in the dark of the night, no-knock, no announce, no nothing except a SWAT team’s shock and awe, are the same reasons why the people in the house, awoken from sleep by armed men bursting in, shoot before asking “who’s there?”
The guy in the house wants to live just like the guys breaking in.
But drug dealer, right? After all, they had a warrant, which is really just a smidgen away from conclusive proof that the guy in the house deserves whatever befalls him.
The police had a search warrant looking for narcotics at the home of Marvin Louis Guy, 49. They decided to serve this warrant at 5:30 in the morning and without knocking on his door. He opened fire on them, killing Dinwiddie and injuring three others.
Though they found a glass pipe, a grinder, and a pistol, they did not find any drugs.
Whatever the warrant claims, it fell flat. There was supposed to be bags of drugs. There were no bags of drugs. So Guy smoked crack, maybe? He had a pistol, but this was Killeen, Texas, where everybody has a pistol. Not really search warrant worthy. Certainly not SWAT worthy. Not even arrest worthy, but for the really minor paraphernalia potential.
And yet, Chuck Dinwiddie was dead. This violated the First Rule of Policing, and it cannot go unpunished. If guys in homes can shoot and kill intruders in the night who happen to be cops, then no cop is safe. Of course, if they don’t, then the guy in the home may be dead, but there is no police rule about that.
Prosecutors in Texas are going to seek the death penalty against him.
After all, Guy killed Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie was a cop. Shouldn’t he have to die?
KWTX offers a dreadfully written summary that says next to nothing about the circumstances of the raid but gives Dinwiddie’s whole life story. Guy faces three additional charges of attempted capital murder for shooting the other officers. The story mentions the no-knock raid but fails to explain why it happened or the failure to find any drugs.
Had the man in the dark of night been a burglar, Guy would be a Texas hero. They would hold a parade for him and name a day “Marvin Louis Guy Day” to celebrate how he took out some scuzzball who nobody cared about anyway.
But Dinwiddie was a cop, even though there was no way Guy could have known that, and no reason for a guy who smokes some crack to think that there’s a good chance the SWAT team would be breaking into his house in the dark of night. Even in Killeen, smoking some crack isn’t that big a deal.
On the other side, the one thing people in Texas seem to understand better than anywhere else is their peculiar flavor of the Castle Doctrine. Adrian Perryman was acquitted of shooting at cops raiding his home, where some meth happened to be found.
“He was protecting his house, he was protecting Ms. Flores and he was protecting Savannah,” he said, referencing the 3-year-old granddaughter of Flores who also was at the home the night of the October 2010 raid.
Perryman’s former girlfriend, Flores, testified that she looked at the monitor the night of the raid as she came out of the shower and could only see two dark, shadowy figures crouched down outside the house before she ran to wake Perryman and handed him a gun, telling him burglars had returned to the home.
“I put my body over Savannah’s,” she said, recalling for jurors what she did in the moments after handing Perryman the gun and before he opened fire. “He said ‘I’ve got a gun and I’m going to shoot — stay out!’”
Flores said it wasn’t until after he fired four shots that she heard anyone yelling “Police!”
There always seems to be some question as to when the people in the house figure out that the people breaking in are the police rather than killers or burglars. Maybe the cops were too busy yelling “get down” or “hands up” to have the “police” heard? Maybe the confusion caused some, well, confusion. I would imagine the best thing for burglars to yell as they broke into a house would be “police” too.
But Perryman was found not guilty, because the jury didn’t expect a guy in his house to stand there like a fool as people were breaking into his house in the dark of night. Maybe juries don’t care as much about the First Rule of Policing as cops do. Maybe it won’t matter for Marvin Louis Guy that the man he killed was Chuck Dinwiddie. Maybe, when people come through a window in the dark of night in Killeen, Texas, they should expect the guy in the house to kill them, no matter who they are or why they think it’s different when it’s a SWAT team.
H/T Christina
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A small quibble. Unless I missed something in the articles, a glass pipe and a grinder suggests weed, not crack. Why make the standard perp character smear easier?
The grinder suggested cocaine, but I went with the worst possible scenario because it doesn’t make a difference. Even if it’s crack, so what?
My understanding of what a “grinder” is must be different,p. I would post a link, but, rules.
It should make no difference at all. But SOP in these situations seems to be drag every little dark detail of the accesed into the light, even if not true. If that grinder turns out to be a peppermill, and that pipe finest meerschaum, then a year from now the law and order types will still be talking about Guy was smoking crack.
If I had any basis to argue that it was a peppermill and meerschaum, I would be the first to do so. It’s not that I accept the premise that the cops say so, but that I can’t dispute it and any argument to the contrary would expose the primary point to question.
And since the primary point is that even a guy who smokes crack gets to defend his home from armed intruders in the dark of night, better to let the detail go and focus on center mass.
There you go again, trying to convince people your posts have a point, and they should stick to it.
No wonder your blog never gets any visitors.
Off-topic here, but it’s a wonder to me that any conviction in a case like this could ever be justified. And then to say you’re going after the death penalty?
Imagine if cops deliberately shooting citizens when “in fear of their lives” were held to the same standards as citizens accidentally shooting police when in fear of their own being lost.
Cops are special. Your problem is that you just don’t realize that all human conduct must be viewed through their lens. Then it all makes perfect sense.
Not sure what to say to the family of the Detective Charles “Chuck” Dinwiddie. Chuck I am sure you will be missed. I know that you were doing your job as you were trained to do. You died going after the bad guy or so you thought. The system seems to have failed you and your family.
Police officers YOU need to refuse to enforce no knock warrants. They are illegal and dangerous to you and the people you swore to protect. Yes, even the criminals.
My grandfather was a US Marshall. He told me he was against no knock warrants. Along with many other policies that disregard the Constitution of this great country and most of the states.
As a life long hemp connoisseur, I am offended by the lack of knowledge by the press concerning hemp and hemp paraphernalia.
Officer Odis Denton, you might be related to me. My grandfather is/was a Denton. I am leaving Thursday to go visit my Denton family. I pray you recover and retire from your current job. You have done well at your post. Go find a better job and spend more time with your family.
My dad smoked or self medicated, as the VA calls it. It is now legal where he grew up and died. Died as a direct result of his participation in Vietnam.
He had a grinder. If you use a grinder on cocaine you need some lessons or at minimum some better cocaine. Dad did a little cocaine also, but never used a grinder on it. Grinders can also be used to separate seeds from the brick marijuana brought in from Mexico and to, well, grind up the brick so it can be smoked easier and cleaner.
Had there been cocaine, there would also have been some type of instrument to either snort the cocaine, heat the cocaine and shoot it, razors or other devices. I have been researching for hours on this case and have found nothing mentioned of this nature.
The grinder would have traces of cocaine in it and cocaine would stand out in a grinder as it is normally a bright white powder. Whereas hemp is easily cleaned out of a grinder and not as easily seen, as it is normally dark to light green. Mexican bricks normally darken the marijuana due to compression.
I am reserving my opinion fully on this matter until I have access to the court documents. However, no knock warrants are, in my opinion, illegal.
Marvin Louis Guy, did exactly as I plan to do, when someone breaks into my house at any time of the day or night, while a family member dials 911.
Marvin Louis Guy should have been arrested outside his house, on his way to work, on his way to the grocery store, on his way to drop of the bags of whatever he supposedly had, on his way to pick up the bags of whatever he was supposedly hiding in his home or at sometime when he could have easily been surrounded by a Police team that was undoubtedly a Police Team.
Hey Mr Police Person, Why not wait till his is not at home and then go no knock on his door, let yourself in and search the place. Then when you do not find what the no knock warrant gave you the illegal permission to search for, you can leave and no one gets hurt. In the slight chance that you actually find what the no knock warrant gave you the (illegal) permission to search for, then just sit in the living room and wait for Marvin Louis Guy to come home.
While we are here, would someone find some pictures of Marvin Louis Guy holding a baby and kissing an old lady while wearing a suit. This should be the standard image shared of all suspected criminals. Give’em a chance already.
Where is the defense fund for Marvin Louis Guy? I want to donate to help make sure he has the money to defend himself. If our system works, then my money will only help prove it.
The war on people attempting to make a living needs to stop!
It’s very good of you to have empathy for all involved.
Same old grind.
The local PD’s “Organized” Crime Unit does EXTENSIVE SURVEILLANCE for a month then brings all that intel to a Judge (who I presume actually read the synopsis of the intel and carefully listened to the detective/s present it and then asked a few dozen questions or so to confirm what he was reading and hearing was sound).
Judge signs a no-knock visit as only a no-knock will do.
Cop ends up dead, no drugs found.
Somebody fucked up!
Judges and Cops never fuck up.
What to do?
Well, somebody fucked up.
True.
Judges and Cops never fuck up.
DA picks up grinder and grinds.
“What’s a guy to do?”
Somebody fucked up!
Judges and Cops Never Fuck Up…
Cop is dead.
Somebody fucked up real good.
Let your client know that’s a Capitol Crime.
Pollyanna that I am, I have to point out the bright side of this deadly encounter with law enforcement.
They didn’t find any drugs!
This means more than it might seem in a normal context. There were no drugs planted. So, at least some of the cops are trying to do the right thing, in at least one respect.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if they didn’t lie at trial, and then refused to execute future no-knock arrests because it’s just not worth it?
I have just nominated you for a Fluttershy Friendship is Magic award.
Awesome!
Say, does that mean you don’t harbor the same distrust of ponies they do over at Popehat?
I can’t explain Ken’s pony issues. Maybe it was some repressed childhood experience? I dunno.
He shot four officers injuring two despite body armor? That is impressive in a tragic kind of way. He managed to surrender after having done so? Truly impressive.
But even if they had found large amounts of drugs can he still argue that he didn’t know they were police? How large of a crime do you have to commit before you lose the right to self defense?
The argument is that a drug dealer should anticipate that the police will eventually come to search and seize, as that’s a cost of doing business. A non-dealer, on the other hand, has no reason to anticipate such an event. That’s the argument, which seems to sit better fine with some nice folk.
By that logic then even if they find evidence elsewhere that he ever dealt drugs then they can still charge him with murder. Since he is a drug dealer then he should expect…
Logic? What are you thinking?
This is the most Texas story that has ever happened. Protecting your house against intruders? Check. Death penalty? Check. Despite the charges, and the intent to seek the penalty, my guess (and hope?) is that defending your home is going to win out over the first rule of policing.
Do you think the death penalty charge on Guy is more about getting the death penalty, or more about avoiding a trial with plea bargaining?
Lacking magical voodoo powers to see into other people’s minds, I have no clue.