Rand Paul: 'No-knock' warrants 'should be forbidden'

Authored by eu.courier-journal.com and submitted by redditor01020

Rand Paul says no-knock warrants 'should be forbidden' in wake of Breonna Taylor shooting

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul is speaking out about the controversial shooting of former Louisville EMT Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police during a "no-knock" search warrant that experts have heavily criticized.

In an exclusive statement to The Courier Journal, the Republican lawmaker expressed concern about the Louisville Metro Police Department's search of Taylor's apartment on March 13, which has led to a national outcry.

Court records show police obtained a no-knock warrant before using a battering ram to enter Taylor's apartment at around 1 a.m. as part of a narcotics investigation.

But the warrant shows Taylor was not the main subject of the investigation, and that no narcotics were found in her apartment after she was shot eight times by police.

"No one should lose their life in pursuit of a crime without a victim, and 'no-knock' warrants should be forbidden," Paul said. "Let’s hope the investigation provides justice."

Paul's comments come as local leaders are changing police policies around no-knock warrants in the wake of Taylor's fatal shooting.

Mayor Greg Fischer, a Democrat, announced Monday that all no-knock warrants will now require approval from the chief of police or a designee before being submitted to a judge. He said doing so will provide another "level of scrutiny."

The U.S. Supreme Court has said judges may allow police to search without knocking when they have a reasonable suspicion that under the “particular circumstances” of the case, the targets could destroy evidence.

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Legal experts, however, have criticized the vague language in the Taylor warrant given her apartment did not have cameras.

“I don’t know how this ever cleared a supervisor’s desk,” Lexington attorney Mark Wohlander, a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor, told The Courier Journal this weekend.

Brian Gallini, a law professor at University of Arkansas who has written about the Fourth Amendment, said if a no-knock warrant was appropriate in raiding Taylor's apartment, "then every routine drug transaction would justify grounds for no-knock."

Paul, a libertarian-leaning lawmaker, is one of the fiercest defenders of Fourth Amendment rights in Congress. He expressed previous concern that local law enforcement is becoming too militarized.

"There is a systemic problem with today’s law enforcement," Paul said in a 2014 op-ed for TIME Magazine.

The senator was addressing protests and riots in the wake of the Ferguson, Missouri, police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. At the time Paul said "big government" was at the heart of the problem.

"Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies — where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement," Paul said in the 2014 editorial.

Paul joins elected officials from Kentucky and around the country who've spoken out about Taylor's shooting.

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat, demanded last week that federal investigators examine the controversial shooting.

"Her family deserves answers," she said.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, said the shooting, "should be thoroughly and promptly investigated."

Rep. John Yarmuth, who represents Louisville in Washington, described Taylor, who was an ER technician, as a "brave and selfless public servant." He said the shooting was another example of a "nation sick and tired of seeing and hearing of black and brown lives being taken so wantonly and so coldly."

Reporters Andrew Wolfson and Tessa Duvall contributed to this story.

Reach Phillip M. Bailey at [email protected] or 502-582-4475. Follow him on Twitter at @phillipmbailey.

purrgatory920 on May 19th, 2020 at 00:34 UTC »

The only ones who don’t agree with this are the police unions.

This shouldn’t even be a question.

Every cop that participated in that raid are guilty of her murder. I don’t care if she had all the drugs.

The police should never be allowed to use military tactics or equipment that’s not available to civilians.

Jack_Sandwich on May 19th, 2020 at 00:18 UTC »

How this doesn’t have across the board bipartisan support is beyond me. How is it even a debate in the 21st Century?

Gh0s7br05 on May 18th, 2020 at 23:42 UTC »

Rand Paul is absolutely correct