Officers Arrest Attorney For Defending His Client

[Music] welcome to audit the audit where we sort out the who and what and the right and wrong of police interactions this episode covers court cases search warrants and obstruction and is brought to us by al comms channel be sure to check out the description below and give them the credit that they deserve before we dive into the episode I want to invite you to check out the new audit the audit merchandise shelf just below this video I strive to create merch that is more than just a billboard for this channel and I personally designed the graphics for all ata products merch is a great way to show your support for this channel and to show my support for this audience I will be giving away three audit the audit shirts to randomly selected viewers who subscribe to this channel and leave a comment on this video the raffle will end one week from this video being posted so be sure to hit the subscribe button before it's too late now let's dive right in and audit the interaction On February 23rd 2017 attorneys Victor Revell and Megan Garcia were leaving the courthouse with their client Lloyd Edwards after appearing in court in reference to a protection from abuse order initiated by mr. Edwards his wife jasmine before leaving the courthouse mr. Edwards gave two of his three cell phones to mr. Revell as ms Garcia mr. Revell and mr. Edwards exited the courthouse they were confronted by deputy Ashworth and deputy Ratliff of the Blount County Sheriff's Office in Blount County Alabama who were attempting to serve a search warrant of mr. Edwards and his vehicle [Music] you have years away from doing your person at this time that I think know about our sake no thrill now in the car okay what you have in normally smoke okay and also for the [Music] Pat you down make sure you don't have any other weapon you're shakin ours [Applause] [Music] sighing cattle you dollar issue job as mentioned earlier in the video mr. Edwards was appearing in court about a protection order issued by his wife mrs. Edwards alleged that mr. Edwards had abused her and their daughter and testified that mr. Edwards his cell phones contained proof of her claims mrs. Edwards testimony led the prosecution to pursue a search warrant for mr. Edwards person and vehicle specifically targeting his three cell phones I called the rebel law firm and mr. Revell stated that there was no evidence of abuse on the phones and that the phones actually contained evidence that supported mr. Edwards his innocence mr. Revell claims that mrs. Edwards had exchanged explicit messages with mr. Edwards which indicated that her interactions with him were consensual and that he intended to submit the phones as evidence for the defense mr. Edwards later stated that mr. Revell told him that quote there may come a day when the prosecution wants your phone and one of the attorneys asked him for the two phones just before exiting the courtroom the phones were then placed into mrs. Garcia's briefcase prior to exiting the building the warrants to our house for this person that's right Empress is vehicle that's fact so he has given the phone is on his person okay I have video of him hanging boney you you hanging phone hers didn't exactly run I know you all do have it that is mental when you are on my hell but I'll forever not on this person and send you all not in-house of it I think we'll go the other graph get that as well as mr. Revell mentioned the language of the search warrant dictates that the search may be performed on mr. Edwardses immediate person and vehicle only since mr. Edwards was not in possession of the phones at the time of the warrant being served the deputies are not entitled to them if the deputies had acquired a search warrant for the phones themselves then they may have had some authority to seize them but the validity of such a search warrant would be questionable considering that the defense also intends to submit the phones as evidence the search warrant presented by the officers does not authorize them to search mrs. Garcia but the prosecution does have a trick up its sleeve which we will discuss later in the video after realizing that mr. Revell is refusing to comply with the search deputy Ashworth calls the district attorney's office for advice on how to proceed video that he has his cell phones in his attorney one and they handed it to another and it's in the central this is right here well are we being the time at this moment in time they're not it well video detain you until we determine the next course base you close to me what I have this person and vehicle I'm gonna turn this off [Music] okay okay we either need the phone out of the satchel or we will have to detain you and get search for it you can give the part so you're going to look okay well we're not going to give you is we're not going to give you a base on our person you don't have a right to so if you detain us you go you've got it there as you get to heaven at the hell no son there's some countries and safeguards to do that but you're going to attain this then paint then I'm going alone and you are telling us we are being detained that way it's rather obvious and recite or pay shame okay you guys are under arrest for obstructing government operation don't think about that's right work this is definitely unlawful we all know this we all know right mr. Revell is more than correct that this arrest is unlawful not only are the deputies charging mr. Revell under the authority of an irrelevant search warrant but neither mr. Revell or mrs. Garcia did anything that would constitute a violation of Alabama code 13 a - 10 - to the code states that a person commits the crime of obstructing governmental operations if by means of intimidation physical force or interference intentionally obstructs the administration of law or prevents a public servant from performing the governmental function neither mr. Revell nor mrs. Garcia conducted themselves in a manner that was intimidating physically forceful or interfering they both simply stated that they would not comply with the deputies unlawful orders they did nothing to prevent the deputies from seizing the phone if the deputies were so sure that the search warrant authorized them to seize the phones then what was stopping them from taking mrs. Garcia's bag and getting them certainly not mr. Revell or mrs. Garcia [Music] for you oh really you don't have no weapon on get a horse man we have no video we have not we have not broken a lot so if you're resting up I'm gonna Gresley I'm being risk for cutting go to operation that's great when we therapist [Music] people for this time you should [Music] and this is a new air West I'm - yeah to Ashworth [Music] and you and your dressing up on the hurt orders Deborah Madeline I want to make sure that you know from our permission our position was that this search Warren who saw this warmth he would take him he asked he gave us some of the youth and his defense and so we did not they do anything to keep you off from doing you all job I do always I'm not here this is Arizona go scare me I'll do it at the court now yeah we know we know we're not offending you for the search warrant on the car horn all marriages from the moment he's entered the courthouse he's been under strike this guy or the reason to this surgery I sit here and watch you and him and her template to get him in he looked at matter of fact you did look up at camera two or three times he pulls the file out maybe he you hand it back to he was feeling with I'm guessing the password to come on and after a short period of time he handed back you you handed her she put it in people's okay that is evidence for their searching and you agree with me that you all serve this search warrant on subsequent to that after that right yeah happily live on the bill the deputies fail to understand the authoritative limitations of the search warrant and mr. Revell and mrs. Garcia were arrested and charged under code 13 a - 10 - to the prosecution initially offered to drop the charges if mr. Revell agreed to write a letter apologizing and admitting that the deputies did nothing wrong but mr. Revell rejected their offer and decided to proceed with a trial in the ensuing criminal trial mr. Revell and mrs. Garcia's defense argued that the state failed to establish the defendants intent and that no crime was committed because the search warrant did not authorize the search of mr. Edwards attorneys the prosecution argued that they were entitled to the phones under the exigent circumstances doctrine which is a legal precedent that allows for warrantless searches and circumstances where evidence has a high likelihood of being destroyed such as cell phone data I have covered the exigent circumstances doctrine in a previous video which I will link in the info card above during the trial mr. Edwards who was still under investigation at the time testified for the prosecution but stated that District Attorney Casey tried to prep him in his testimony even though she had reportedly recused herself from the case and mr. Edwards became a key witness for mr. revels defense ultimately judge King acquitted mr. Revell and mrs. Garcia of all charges and stated that the deputies were wrong about the authority of the search warrant and that the defendants never physically prevented the deputies from carrying out their duties mr. Revell and mrs. Garcia were forced to recuse themselves from mr. Edwards case after filing two separate federal lawsuits against deputy Ratliff and deputy Ashworth as well as district attorney Casey and the assistant district attorney Scott Gilliland it is worth noting that mr. Edwards has yet to go to trial and his case has been reset by a different grand jury several times over the past two years it is highly irregular for a district attorney to delay indictment when the suspect has been charged and there is merit to the notion that she may be delaying mr. Edwards prosecution so that she can use his pending case as leverage against him for his testimony in the federal lawsuit against her nonetheless mr. Revell is optimistic about the case and told me that he expects to reach a settlement agreement with certain undisclosed stipulations over all the deputies and district attorneys of the Blount County Sheriff's Office get an F for exaggerating the authority of a search warrant violating mr. Revell and mrs. Garcia's Fourth Amendment rights and falsely arresting them for obstruction at one point in the video deputy Ashworth states that she is detaining mr. Revell and mrs. Garcia until she is able to acquire a search warrant and she may have had the authority to do that under the exigent circumstance doctrine if deputy Ashworth had stuck to that plan she may have been able to legally seize the phones but she instead chose to escalate the detainment to an arrest rather than waiting for a proper search warrant the phones were eventually searched by the prosecution but they did not contain any usable evidence and even if they had the prosecution would not have been able to submit them as evidence in the trial against mr. Edwards because the phones were illegally obtained the only thing that the prosecution got out of this interaction was a federal lawsuit that will likely result in a hefty settlement mr. Revell gets an a-plus for having the mental agility and conversational fortitude to dispute the validity of the search warrant and the courage and conviction to defend his personal liberty and stand by his defendants rights mr. Revell immediately knew that the arrest was unlawful and offered the deputies multiple opportunities to reconsider there is no doubt that mr. Revell and mrs. Garcia will walk away from this case with a victory and any client would be lucky to have their representation mr. Revell deserves recognition for his conduct during this interaction and I will leave a link to the Revel law firms website in the description below for anyone in Alabama who may be interested in seeking their service let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic you would like us to cover in the comments below thank you for watching and be sure to LIKE and subscribe for more police interaction content [Music]

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 7,167,585

Rating: 4.915946 out of 5

Keywords: amagansett press, first amendment audit, 1st amendment audit, auditing america, news now california, sgv news first, high desert community watch, anselmo morales, photography is not a crime, san joaquin valley transparency, first amendment audit fail, walk of shame, news now houston, police fail, 1st amendment audit fail, public photography, auditor arrested, police brutality, highdesert community watch, pinac news, cops triggered, news now patrick, east hampton

Id: 721GYRlmBR4

Length: 13min 52sec (832 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 31 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/MoOdYo]

I'm an attorney in the same area and I just want to say that Vic is a bad ass.

If you're in or near Birmingham, AL and get charged with a crime, give him a call.

I've sent a lot of clients his direction over the years.

[u/Teresa_Count]

If telling someone they're under arrest puts a big ol' grin on their face, you might be making a big mistake. Especially if that person is an attorney.

[u/HurricaneSandyHook]

I would love it if those deputies got their own lawyers and went after the DA and/or the ADA who told them to use the obstruction charge. Since all of them were conspiring to screw over those lawyers, they should have to uncomfortably battle each other.

[u/bacchys1066]

Audit the Audit is a great channel.

[u/ScurrilousTruth]

I don't agree with this video's argument that exigent circumstance may have applied. That would mean there is a presumption the defense attorney's would willingly risk their careers and freedom to delete or hide evidence. I would hope no judge would buy that argument.

The appeal on their civil lawsuit is good reading too: https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20190802720

[u/BP89764]

He sued too, I think they settled out of court but I would have liked to see them squirm a bit more, they were way out of bounds given Atty Client Privilege.

[u/CharlieKellyEsq]

Yet another example of many where police have no respect for the rights of the people or for the law itself, and arrest someone because they feel their authority is disrespected.

[u/Brad_Wesley]

Whats up with that dress that lady cop is wearing?