Advocate2,

Oh, that is absolutely true that "back in the day" the police WERE your friend and they did everything they could to help a person. They did not drive around looking for a reason to arrest people. Instead of arresting people for minor crimes, they did their best to keep the peace with as little intervention as possible.

In the late 1960's my friends and I used to spend a lot of our time in our cars during the evening, especially the weekends---all the kids back then did. All the teenagers would what we call "drag main" by just aimlessly driving our cars on the same road from the north side of town to the south. We would turn around at the local Sonic drive in, and then drive from the south to the north, staying on the main drag. We repeated this procedure many times in one night. This was how we socialized and I do not remember there ever being any major problems.

Back then, beer was cheap---eighty cents for a quart of Coors--- and as teenagers do sometimes, we would buy a couple of quarts of beer to drink while driving. I know, I know, we should have been shot for being so careless and stupid, but we were teens and teens do not possess good sense sometimes. I am sure all of us can relate is some fashion.

Anyway, a few times the cops would stop a group of teens with all the beer in the car. Instead of the cuffs and arresting us and taking us to the station, the police would give us a stern lecture. They would then take us home in the police car and tell our parents what we had been up to. That was it---they allowed the parents to handle the situation. Now if it happened again and again, they would have probably arrested us, but it didn't. One time dealing with dad was enough for most of use. We were not dead drunk, but we did have an open container in the car and some of us were no doubt buzzed at times. But I can never remember an arrest being made.

The police handled situations much differently than they do today. It took a lot---and I do mean a lot---to get arrested back in those days.

Such a different time.

rewdiazepam

Rew, you had it bad.....With us, we'd go to the cruise(Remember the movie "Peggy Sue got Married"? That's where the cruise was back then) with X amount of beer and if caught, the cops just made us poor out the beer(that was more painful than jail) and MAYBE a 40 dollar MIP ticket and told to get out of town for the night and we'd just go back to our town, 25 miles or so, get more beer and , well....You are right though, now a days some of the things we did then would get us jail time today..Sad Huh? I'm a bit younger than you, my days were the mid 70's..Music was better then...LOL.(But really, we had 'Uncle Ted')...

Alladin,
I know i get long winded but I don't think you got the point I was making(trying to).
As for this particular entry, if I believe the story that the people told,AND I'M NOT SAYING THEY ARE LYING, and in fact I tend to believe them, then it was an illegal entry and, as I've said, the Marshal in Charge should be punished...OK, now here's the 'BUT', They say, "We had a tip from a CI stating he was in that Apt." Now they have probable cause(Remember, we weren't there so this is theoretical and from my experience) so the arrest Warrant kicks..Example.Let's say that you were looking for someone and you go to his mothers house on a tip and she says he isn't there. Now, the US Marshal Service is not bound by State laws and if they have REASONABLE SUSPICION they CAN invoke the Arrest Warrant and search ONLY for the subject.You got a bag of weed sitting on your table theycan't do anything, I've been in that situation and all we coudd do was refer it to the locals..

As far as Indiana law goes??? Hey, I am all for putting a leash on the PUNK COPS....My Dad is retired Highway Patrol and even he doesn't like the way things are going and agrees with me that a lot of Cops these days were Bullied in school and now abuse the Badge and Gun, BUTagain, I grew up with cops and later worked with Cops and most still believe in "Protect and Serve" we just hear about the ASSHOLES......Gee, kind of like the SCUM and REPEAT SO's that Rape and Murder Children and everyone paints us with the same brush...

As for Indiana law, The Federal Government supercedes State law..An example, while in the coast Guard, I couldn't arrest or Cite for violation of State law that had no equal in the US Code...For instance, Boating While Intoxicated, there is(was at the time) no Federal crime, but it was State and all we could do was detain for the Sheriff...On the other hand, if someone committed a murder in San Francisco Bay, it is legally Federal Waters, so becomes Federal. It was usually turned over to local cops, but not always...

Ok, my point about "Stand your Ground". Like I said, I would probably draw if my door came down in the middle of the night, BUT, I will lose..I have decent "Firepower" but it's no match against fully automatic M4's and MP5's....Right or wrong.."THEY'RE GONNA BLOW YOUR ASS AWAY"!!!...You're just a dead Sex offender, not a "Martyr. Nobody's gonna give shit....This is just the way it is...

However, I believe they said they had a tip the suspect was in that apartment complex - not that particular apartment. - remember the cop said no one else in the complex acted that way ...

Advocate2 is right. The tip was for the entire apartment complex, not even for a particular building in the complex much less an individual apartment.

My point about Indiana is this probably would never have occurred there. The force at the complex was a multi-agency mix of federal and local law enforcement so even though this guy was a U.S. Marshall I'm pretty sure a local would have at least warned him about the citizen's right to shoot first and ask questions later unless it was a lawful entry.