Courtrooms, Cameras, Police, Kop busters &Yolanda;Madden
that no one else will do it for them and that those entrusted with such a duty will only run roughshod over them if given half a chance. That is why we are seeing the old media dying, a new media springing to life to replace it and those in power becoming afraid. They run when the light of truth is shone upon them and the people are better off because of this.
Take as an example the case of Yolanda Madden from Odessa, Texas. She was sentenced to eight years in prison for possession of methamphetamines. “What´s the big deal about that?” the most indoctrinated among us might ask, “She broke the law and she needs to be punished!” they might cry. I´m not going to use this space to explain the argument about the right of someone to decide for himself what to do with his own body and how despicable this thing called by some “the war on drugs” is. The necessity for us to grant freedom to others so that we can have it for ourselves is self evident. The problem with Yolanda´s case is that it was all a lie. The drugs they found on her were planted by a police informant. How do I know this? It´s a matter of public record. The informant testified as such in court. Both the informant and Yolanda passed many tests to prove her innocence. Even that didn´t matter to the corrupt system. She was still found guilty and sentenced. She has already lost years of her life sitting in prison when she could have been contributing to society in a positive way.
The police lied. They lied about many things. There is video tape of the bust that they said didn´t exist. They lied when they said they didn´t have evidence planted. They lied when they claimed she broke down and cried at the traffic stop and allowed them to search her vehicle. They continue to lie. The injustice that their lies bring is immeasurable. The harm they continue to do not only to the people that were wronged, but to the reputation of the American justice system is massive. To those who say “the law is the law,” I say “wrong is wrong.” What the police did was wrong. The law is secondary. When we spot injustice, we should all demand that it stop and that those wronged are made right again. Remember, if something like this can happen to someone like Yolanda, it can happen to your son or daughter or even to you. Where is Yolanda, or anyone else for that matter, supposed to get their justice when the justice system is so compromised?
Enter Kopbusters. This group of brave individuals has decided to take on the establishment using the same methods that corrupted law enforcement has been using for years. Normally I would be against entrapment, because normally entrapment is used when a thought crime and not a real crime has been committed, but in this case a real crime was committed and I feel a taste of one´s own medicine is justified. So Kopbusters set up a couple of Christmas trees inside a house and through lack of jurisprudence and proper investigative work, the police came to believe that a large grow operation was in fact taking place inside that house. A judge improperly issued a fourth amendment warrant and the police improperly served said warrant. Cameras inside the house caught the video of the illegal activity and streamed it live so that the video could not be confiscated and later “lost.” The police and the judge in this case, if justice is to be served for the people of Texas, should be in some real trouble and should face criminal prosecution, but we shall see just how deep the corruption of the system goes.
All this was done to shine a light upon the Yolanda Madden case. Who knows how many cases like hers are out there? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? It´s hard to say. Now, the Odessa authorities are scrambling to do some damage control. They are trying to find out if any laws were broken in regards to the sting operation. They are seeking the identity of an anonymous tipster. They are not saying “thank you for exposing such behavior” to the men and women of Kopbusters. They are not promising to hold those responsible accountable for their actions. They aren´t so much as talking about cleaning up the corruption or making things right for Yolanda and her family. They are looking for an excuse to put someone in jail and hide behind some inane law so that they can continue their corrupt ways. They aren´t supposed to issue warrants based on the word of anonymous tipsters, so seeking the identity of one seems irrelevant and beside the point. These people need to admit their mistakes and face the music. They need to free those they´ve wrongfully imprisoned and stop imprisoning those who haven´t harmed anyone. They need to stop acting like a criminal gang and once again become the peace officers that at one time were the envy of the world.
The police and the justice system continue to investigate this case not because they want to right the wrongs they´ve committed, but