Another Piece of Good News: Texas Grand Jury Rejects Murder Charges For Man Who Shot Deputy During No-Knock Raid

Vatic Note:  As I said, I would try to put all the good news together into one day, but I may be off by one article, so hang in there.   This is the second one we have found that is good news.  It means the grand jury system can  work for the citizen who has found himself being treated like a felon when it fact he had done nothing wrong and was protecting his family AND the sheriffs dept did the raid on a no knock basis, which means the victim knew nothing about what was happening..  All he knew was someone was breaking into his house since the police did not announced their intentions. 

Leave it to Texas to do what is right.  It looks like they are going to have to take down the whole state of Texas before they can even consider taking down the United States.  I want to watch them "TRY" TO TAKE TEXAS DOWN.  

This decision is long overdue.  To many officers have escaped responsibility for shooting up someone, their dog, their spouse or some old person....and it was done by a no knock search.  That means the poor man living there has no idea who is breaking into his house.  The jury did the right thing here.  Thank goodness for citizen empaneled Grand Juries. 

Texas Grand Jury Rejects Murder Charges For Man Who Shot Deputy During No-Knock Raid
http://www.blacklistednews.com/Texas_Grand_Jury_Rejects_Murder_Charges_For_Man_Who_Shot_Deputy_During_No-Knock_Raid/32700/0/38/38/Y/M.html
                                                           

(L-R) DPS Trooper Jimmy Morgan, Burleson County Sheriff Dale Stroud, Public Information Officer Christine Labertew, and District Attorney Julie Renken.

Short URL: http://wtaw.com/?p=74204

In an astonishing ruling, a Texas grand jury declined to press capital murder charges against a man who shot and killed a law enforcement officer executing a no-knock raid on his home. A Burleson County SWAT team raided the man's home near Snook on December 19th of last year.

28-year-old Henry Goedrich Magee said he shot and killed Burleson County Sgt. Adam Sowders, 31, because he thought he was being robbed and acted to protect his pregnant girlfriend and children.

                                                            

Pictured: Henry Goedrich Magee

"He did what a lot of people would have done [...] He defended himself and his girlfriend and his home," said Dick DeGuerin, Magee's lawyer.

The jury agreed, citing a lack of evidence Magee knew the invader was actually a law enforcement officer, they neglected to charge him despite his being a "cop killer."

Magee's assumption he was being robbed was actually correct, the deputies had planned to rob him, albeit "legally." Their warrant to raid him was over some alleged marijuana plants an informant said he was growing, as well as some "illegal guns" the informant said he owned. While they did find him growing marijuana, all his guns were owned legally, so all they got from their armed invasion was some pot, which incidentally most Texans want to be legalized.

                                                       

Pictured: Burleson County Sgt. Adam Sowders

While the jury declined to indict Magee for capital murder charges, they did indict him for possession of marijuana while in possession of a deadly weapon, a third-degree felony which the state's district attorney, Julie Renken, said she intends to "fully prosecute."

Nonetheless, for the capital murder charge Magee had bail set at $1 million and was facing life in prison without parole and possible death by lethal injection, instead he'll likely be released on bond and soon reunited with his family.

Thursday afternoon update:
A Burleson County sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed Thursday morning in the line of duty.

A recently promoted sergeant and investigator, 31 year old Adam Sowders, was among at least eight officers involved in executing a search warrant.
Sowders died the day after his seventh anniversary with the department.

Sheriff Dale Stroud says Sowders was the only one hit by the gunfire.
Other than saying one person is in custody, the sheriff did not give further details of what happened at a double-wide mobile home between Somerville and Caldwell.

Sowders, who lived in Somerville, served as a volunteer firefighter for 13 years.
Sowders joined the sheriff’s office in 2006 after serving as Burleson County’s Emergency Management Coordinator. He also served as an officer with the Somerville Police Department.

Stroud says Sowders is survived by two brothers and his mother.
Texas Rangers and DPS troopers are assisting in the death investigation. The sheriff says deputies from Brazos, Milam, Washington, and Waller counties are helping with daily operations.

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