December 24, 2013, 04:40pm
Deputy Adam Sowders was killed executing a no-knock drug raid over some marijuana plants. (http://www.co.burleson.tx.us)
A Burleson County sheriff’s deputy leading a dawn, no-knock drug raid was shot and killed by the homeowner last Thursday. Sgt. Adam Sowders becomes the 40th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.
Although Sowders was killed early last Thursday morning, we delayed reporting the story because the sheriff’s department refused for several days to release search warrant information that would have verified it was indeed a drug-related search warrant.
According to the Bryan-College Station Eagle, Sowders had obtained a search warrant for the residence after obtaining information that the homeowner was growing marijuana and possibly had stolen guns. The warrant was a “no-knock” warrant, meaning police could forcibly enter the residence without giving residents a chance to respond.
Sowders, the first officer through the door, was shot and killed by homeowner Henry Goedrich Magee, 28, who has now been charged with capital murder. But Magee’s attorney, famed Houston defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin, said Magee and his pregnant girlfriend were sleeping in the home when they heard “explosives” going off and loud pounding at the door. Moments later, the door burst open and a person Magee couldn’t identify entered the residence. Magee grabbed a rifle leaning against his bedroom door frame and shot Sowders. According to DeGuerin, Magee shot him because he “believed the man rushing in was an intruder and he needed to defend himself.”
Read more here