SWAT Raids for Parody Twitter Accounts? Sure, Why Not? SWAT Raids for Everybody!

Back in May, the mayor of
Peoria, Illinois, put himself on the map by pushing police to raid
the home of a person who had created a
parody Twitter account that mocked him. The fake account made
him appear to be a profane druggie (in other words, interesting).
It was obviously not him, and police ultimately did not charge the
guy, Jon Daniel, with any crimes, but they did arrest Jacob Elliot
at the home for marijuana possession.

Elliot’s attorney is trying to get the case tossed out and the
warrant declared invalid. The judge just declined last week,
determining that the police
did have probable cause to search the home because it was the
address where the computer that made the parody account was
located. According to the Journal Star in Peoria, the
judge is, however, skeptical of the police looking under a pillow
and closet in Elliot’s room for their search for technology to
tweet with, which is where they found his stash. The judge is going
to make the police explain why they searched there in October, so
it’s still possible that the judge may suppress the evidence
itself. The police did not have a warrant to search for drugs, just
things related to pretending to be a very naughty mayor.

As for the raid itself, Freedom of Information requests got
journalists copies of the e-mails between Mayor Jim Ardis and the
Peoria police. Despite the judge ruling the raid and warrant valid,
the
police told Ardis in clear terms prior to the raid that no
crimes had been committed. The police knew going in that the raid
was bogus, went through with it anyway, and a judge upheld the
warrant for probable cause. There’s a joke about how a grand jury
will convict a ham sandwich, but is there a similar joke about how
a judge will approve a search warrant for just about anything?

Meanwhile the American Civil Liberties Union is
suing Peoria and Ardis on behalf of Daniel over the absurd
abuse of the man and his home.