do you remember this case where my clients were confronted and one of them arrested on the front porch about some marijuana allegedly growing nearby we filed a lawsuit about a year ago and now we have a huge ruling from the court 10-4 he owns two properties right here on this fabulous drive we located a marijuana grow probably not 100 foot 50 foot from this last property he is and he just won't give us his name date of birth you own these two homes correct okay these two homes is near that marijuana growth so I'd just like to have your name what does these houses on my property got did you find it on my property it's near your property yeah my property has nothing to do with what you found sir if you refuse to give me information I'm gonna arrest you that's fine my property has nothing to do with any marijuana whatsoever Jason tart what is your date of birth I'm going to arrest you if you don't give me a name date of birth foreign 7th of 2020 to McDowell County West Virginia sheriff's deputies questioned a retired African-American couple about suspected marijuana plants being grown on several properties away from where the hairstons resided the questioning occurred outside the residence which they rented from Jason tart who is also an African-American now when the officers first arrived at the residence the hairstons anticipated a friendly encounter and nicely greeted them they soon however realized that it was not a friendly encounter when the officers appeared agitated questioned them as to whether they grew marijuana and searched the exterior of their home I think it's important that I have you named what do you mean man having your name makes me feel more secure you know we're actually new here okay and for the police officers in this area to come up and say are you growing marijuana that is preposterous to me and when I say the season we're living in you know the season we're living in of and what do you mean by the season we're living in ma'am well you scared me I mean it scared you am I asking you a question who comes up and asks Chris and it scared you I'm trying to understand it scared you by me asking you a question marijuana and that's a question as officer Martin described in his police report upon our arrival we encountered two elderly subjects who were on the porch and asked them if they growed marijuana and they stated no during the encounter the hairstons summoned their landlord and neighbor Mr tart because they felt threatened by the officers and wanted to notify him that the officers were investigating his property when Mr tart arrived he joined the hairstons on their front porch and told the officers his name when they asked as the situation progressed the officers grew more agitated and demanding and these individuals none of whom had any criminal history quickly realized that the officers had no legitimate reason to suspect them of any wrongdoing or to be angry with them they suspected that the officers were racially profiling them and violating their civil rights body camera footage of the interaction captured Mrs Hairston expressing her fear to the officers and her statement that in the season that we're living in she would like to know the officers names officer Martin mockingly responded I'll see if I can find my name and never provided it the officers then became angrier and demanded Mr tart's name his date of birth and such but Mr tart decided not to provide more than his name because based on his experience as a former military police officer he believed that the officers were retaliating against him and the hairstons for complaining about their treatment to the shock of these individuals officer Martin then entered the front porch and seized Mr tarte through physical Force verbal intimidation and threats of violence you own these two homes correct okay these two homes is near that marijuana grow so I'd just like to have your name what does these houses on my property got did you find it on my property it's near your property yeah my property has nothing to do with what you found sir if you refuse to give me information I'm gonna arrest you that's fine my property has nothing to do with any marijuana whatsoever Jason tart what is your date of birth I'm going to arrest you if you don't give me a name date of birth you're gonna arrest me if I don't give you my name and date it's obstructing an officer how because you're hindering me from doing my job am I hindering you from doing your job if it's not on my property last chance to give me your name how am I hindering you place your hands behind your back place your hands behind your back are you gonna give me a name you're right I'm hindering you for doing your job please I'll see if I can find you my name first no I'm hindering you from doing your job this is how you operate I'm hindering you from doing your job y'all need to go inside officer Martin also physically prevented the hairstons from filming the incident and shoved them back into their home partially entering their home in the process the officers then arrested Mr tart and charged him with obstruction of law enforcement so everything I just read to you came out of a court order that was just issued yesterday now about a year ago if you watched the first video I did on this we filed a lawsuit section 1983 civil rights lawsuit we sued these two individual officers but we also sued the county for what's known as a monel claim a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policy or actions and also a somewhat rare 1985 claim for violation of civil rights based on the racial profiling allegations here since then we've been in the discovery process we actually did even have an early mediation because the other side was interested in perhaps settling the case but we we spent a whole day mediating the matter and we were unable to settle it so we are proceeding with depositions at this point but the big news is is that we just received a memorandum order from the court ruling on the motion to dismiss that was filed by the county so the claim against the county is a what's called a monel claim again a pattern or practice claim and most people don't realize that that accounting or municipality cannot claim qualified immunity so far the great news that is is that both of these claims which are very difficult to get past a motion to dismiss we have now successfully done that and the court denied the defendant's motion to dismiss specifically on the claim against the county the Court held that the plaintiffs alleged that the County Commission knew of and condoned prior instances of similar unconstitutional behavior and that it failed to correct the issues to prevent these alleged constitutional injuries and these allegations alone may satisfy the pleading standard for a monel claim the plaintiffs allege that the Sheriff's Office supervisors knew of the allegedly unconstitutional conduct as it transpired and two that the church that the Sheriff's Office failed to stop the allegedly unlawful prosecution of Mr Tark despite this actual knowledge in that three that officer Martin trained officer horn in these unconstitutional practices and that if the plaintiffs proved these allegations a jury could find that the practices were customary of the Sheriff's Office thereby establishing the county commission's liability secondly on the 198 section 1985 conspiracy claim the Court held that in this case the plaintiffs Do Not allege and express agreement between officers Martin and Horn nor would they likely have evidence of any such agreement before the discovery process instead the plaintiffs put forth allegations that have proven represent circumstantial evidence that the officers acted in concert to deprive the plaintiffs of equal protection under the law according to the plaintiff's allegations officers Martin and Horn acted jointly to unlawfully seize the hairstons and search their home to unlawfully arrest Mr tart and to unlawfully retaliate against plaintiffs for asserting their constitutional rights also according to these allegations the officer suspected plaintiffs of wrongdoing solely because of the race and attenuated proximity to the alleged marijuana plants these allegations taken as true support a plausible inference that the officers acted in concert to discriminate against the plaintiffs so great news we're moving forward on all charges and as I explained in the prior video on this and other videos from around the country the important fact here is that this is taking place within the curlage of a private home and police officers don't understand that the rules then change if you are going to do anything above a consensual encounter a knock and talk if you were going to detain somebody against their will or if you're going to arrest somebody if you're within the cartilage of someone's home you have to go get a warrant first you can't just do it because you think you have Reasonable Suspicion and or probable cause the fact that you're within the curlridge of a home that changes the rules unless you have actual voluntary consent or you have exigent circumstances because there's some sort of emergency occurring on the premises if you want to continue to follow along subscribe both here and at the blog at the Civil Rights lawyer.com because there will definitely be updates on this one we're getting ready to take the officer's depositions and I really would like to see this case actually go to trial so this is going to be one that you will hear about remember freedom is scary deal with it foreign