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Austin's Atheism Blog

By Austin Cline, About.com Guide to Atheism since 1998

Sneak & Peek: Is Your Home Safe?

Tuesday June 22, 2004
Remember Brandon Mayfield? He was the Oregon lawyer arrested on the charge that he was involved with the Madrid train bombings. He had to be let go because there was no evidence to support the charges. What many news outlets didn’t report, however, is that the government did a “sneak & peak” on him: they secretly entered and searched his home without telling him.

Third Eye quotes from a news report:

“Under a provision of the U.S. Patriot Act, agents entered his home - but mistakenly locked and bolted the door on their way out. The family uses only the lock below the bolt, and they became suspicious. Mayfield called 911 after he found the door bolted a second time, as well as noticing a man's footprint on the rug that matched no one in the family. After Mayfield's arrest, FBI agents took the attorney's computers, modem, safe deposit key, assorted papers, as well as copies of the Quran and "Spanish documents" - later determined to be his son's Spanish homework.”

This is all in addition to the fact that the FBI’s case against Mayfield was almost entirely based upon the fact that he had connections to various Muslim groups. For example, Mayfield once represented in a child custody case a Muslim who was later charged with terrorism. That’s a reason to suspect Mayfield? Hardly. If they secretly break into people’s homes and conduct searches based upon reasons like that, our entire system of liberties is in a critical state.

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Comments

November 2, 2006 at 10:49 am
(1) Tom says:

I gotta admit, the US is really busting a hump to put in a whole sect of secret police and legislate a hell of a lot about how it’s ‘free’ citizens live, think, eat and breath. I am astonished that people are putting up with it to be honest. That kind of breach of trust and privacy should be against human rights.

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