First Civil Rights Lawsuits Filed in Waco Twin Peaks Incident

Our office has filed the first group of civil rights lawsuits related to the Twin Peak incident. More filings are expected in the future. Each individual’s case was filed separately.

Suits have been filed on behalf of John Vensel, Matthew Clendennen, George Bergman, Jorge Salinas, Noe Adame, and Robert Bucy. Read the full complaint here.

The suits highlight the lack of individual, particularized facts that are required to establish probable cause before arresting and charging an individual. This requirement is Constitutionally mandated by the Fourth Amendment and has been the subject of decades of United States Supreme Court law.

“… the requirement of particularity is not a mere ‘technicality,’ it is an express constitutional command.” – Justice BRENNAN (1984)

“Where the standard is probable cause, a… seizure of a person must be supported by probable cause particularized with respect to that person.” Ybarra v. Illinois, 444 U.S. 85, 91 (1979).

Below is a sampling of cases holding and affirming the particularity requirement of the Fourth Amendment.

• Maryland v. Pringle, 540 U.S. 366, 371 (2003) (“…the belief of guilt must be particularized with respect to the person to be searched or seized.”)

• Williams v. Kaufman Co., 352 F.3d 994, 1003 (5th Cir. 2003) (“as Ybarra confirmed, because the Fourth Amendment requires particularity, ‘open-ended’ or ‘general warrants’ are constitutionally prohibited.“)

• Merchant v. Bauer, 677 F.3d 656, 666 (4th Cir. 2012) (“The Supreme Court has emphasized that ‘[w]here the standard is probable cause, a search or seizure of a person must be supported by probable cause particularized with respect to that person.’”)

• Dinler v. City of New York, 2012 WL 4513352 *6 (S.D.N.Y 2012) (“The Fourth Amendment does not recognize guilty by association.”).