-Caveat Lector-
Miami Herald-June 8, 2001
Eli�n's family can sue the U.S.
Judge: `Excessive force' a possibility
BY JAY WEAVER
A federal judge ruled Eli�n Gonz�lez's Miami relatives can pursue their
lawsuit against the U.S. government solely on grounds that gun-wielding
agents may have used ``excessive force'' during the April 22, 2000, raid
to seize the Cuban boy.
U.S. District Judge Shelby Highsmith, citing a Chicago Police case, said
``the Gonz�lezes have alleged sufficient facts to support such a claim''
that the government may have violated their constitutional rights.
The government was seeking to have the relatives' suit tossed out.
Highsmith's ruling was an important tactical victory for Eli�n's
great-uncle L�zaro Gonz�lez, his wife, Angela Gonz�lez, and daughter
Marisleysis Gonz�lez. It could pave the way for a trial, though no date
has been set.
Even though the government obtained a legal warrant for the raid, ``that
is not a license for the government to exercise excessive force in
executing that warrant,'' the family's Miami attorney, Frank Quintero,
said Thursday. ``I think it's a very good ruling for us.''
In his 29-page ruling, Highsmith also allowed L�zaro Gonz�lez to sue
former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, former immigration chief Doris
Meissner and former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder.
Among those dropped from the suit: Betty Mills, the Immigration and
Naturalization Service agent who grabbed Eli�n and carried him to a
waiting van, former Miami Police Chief William O'Brien and ex-Assistant
Chief John Brooks, who rode along on the raid.
But Highsmith, in an order filed with the court late Tuesday, found
that the government's arrest and search warrants used to enter the
Gonz�lez family's Little Havana home were legal.
The reason: The INS revoked the boy's immigration parole more than a
week before the raid, and the arrest warrant was for him, not his
relatives. The government wanted to reunite the boy with his Cuban
father.
The judge also found that Reno, Meissner and Holder did not conspire to
violate the constitutional rights of Eli�n's Miami relatives in ordering
the raid, as alleged in the lawsuit filed on Sept. 28, 2000.
The Gonz�lezes' attorney has roughly three weeks to file a new lawsuit
that incorporates the judge's decision on the government's dismissal
motion. The Gonz�lezes are seeking unspecified damages.
The U.S. Department of Justice could appeal Highsmith's ruling within
two months, holding up any trial. ``We're reviewing the judge's decision
and determining our options,'' department spokesman Charles Miller said.
In his decision, Highsmith noted that he was ``liberally construing the
complaint in favor of the plaintiffs'' on the government's dismissal
motion. It did not require a full-blown hearing on the facts in dispute.
On the question of alleged excessive force, the judge cited a Chicago
appellate case that alleged a city police officer with a search warrant
broke down the front door of a suspect's home without prior warning and
pointed a gun at his head.
Last year, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded the
allegations ``were sufficient to state a claim for excessive force under
the Fourth Amendment,'' Highsmith wrote in his ruling.
In the Gonz�lezes' suit, the family claimed the following facts: ``At
no time did the federal agents knock on the door, nor did they announce
their presence. The federal agents merely approached the plaintiffs'
residence with a battering ram and broke down the front door, thereby
giving passage to the agents into the residence.
``Once inside the residence, the federal agents sprayed more gas;
pointed guns at the occupants, which included children, threatening to
shoot; shouted obscenities; and broke doors, furniture and religious
artifacts. . . .
``As a federal agent held a large weapon of war pointed at one of the
occupants and [6-year-old Eli�n], Betty A. Mills, an armed INS agent,
entered the room with a blanket and seized the child. The agents backed
their way out of the residence with the child to a waiting van, [with]
federal agents still pointing guns at the occupants of the residence.''
Those statements will be challenged by the government, including
allegations that the Gonz�lezes locked the front door and placed a sofa
behind it as the INS agents approached the home.
At the time, Reno, federal authorities and others described the Miami
raid as a textbook police tactical operation.
Reno said she had received information ``there were guns -- perhaps in
the crowd, perhaps in the house.''
=======================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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