Texas Calls For Execution Of Man Who Killed Home Intruders
Marvin Louis Guy (jail photo)
Texas is calling for the execution of a man who killed home intruders. Now, that doesn’t sound like the Texas we know, does it? Well, this story has a twist. The home intruders turned out to be SWAT members, but there’s more to the story than meets the eye.
In a SWAT raid organized for a purpose other than the reason they were invented, Killeen, Texas, Police Detective Charles Dinwiddie was shot in the face and killed last May. Dinwiddle was attempting to serve a search warrant, but rather than knocking on the door, he entered the house through a window at 5:30 in the morning. Dinwiddle was met with gun fire from Marvin Louis Guy, 49, the man for which he had the warrant, resulting in the death of Dinwiddle and injuring Officer Odis Denton, 37.
Two other officers were reportedly hit by gun fire, but spared injury due to protective gear.
The search warrant was issued for suspicion of narcotics in Guy’s home. While a glass pipe, a grinder, and a pistol were found, there were no drugs confiscated.
This raid is reminiscent of another drug raid in Virginia that got an officer killed. Apparently, a police informant alleged there were bags of cocaine inside the house, which if a familiar detail to the Virginia raid.
With the Virginia case ending with Ryan Frederick in prison for 10 years despite the fact he thought he was defending himself against a home invasion, it seems he may have been lucky compared to Guy, who will be facing possible execution as prosecutors in Texas are going to seek the death penalty against him.
In a written summary on KWTX, the veteran officer’s life is discussed in great detail with very little mention of the circumstances of the raid that resulted in his death. While the story briefly states Dinwiddle died during a no-knock raid, it fails to explain why it happened or the failure to find any drugs.
According to Reason.com, Guy faces three additional charges of attempted capital murder for shooting the other officers. He is being held on a bond that totals $4.5 million, and according to a search for Guy in the jail inmate locator for Bell County, Texas, there are no drug-related charges listed. He is being charged only for the shootings.
From the evidence found, it does not seem Guy had a major drug operation that justified a pre-dawn, no-knock raid. While the glass pipe may suggest drug use, it is not evidence of distribution. As for the other items reportedly confiscated in the investigation – a 9 mm firearm, cell phones, and walkie-talkies, are these not items that could probably be found in most Texas homes?
This raid was enacted solely on the report of an informant that allegedly saw white bags of what was believed to be cocaine transported in and around the house. We all know how notoriously reliable informants are, right? And, of course, major drug traffickers are known to proudly walk about with their bags of narcotics on display for all the community to see.
With no drugs in the home, how likely is it that Guy knew he was firing at cops? Moreover, he would have had to have a death wish to knowingly open fire on officers when there were no drugs in the home. There was no incriminating evidence, so why would anyone knowingly fire at police? With all of this taken into consideration, it makes sense that Guy truly believed he was defending himself and his home from malicious armed intruders. These raids are designed to take you by surprise, and that’s exactly what happened.
While there are a lot of directions the finger of blame can be pointed in this scenario, starting with the poor information given by the informant, one thing is certain, using this sort of violence to enforce the drug laws not only unnecessarily puts citizens at risk, but puts law enforcement officers at risk as well. Now, a presumably innocent man faces execution for reacting the way most of us would if faced with unknown men barging into our home, waking us from our sleep in the wee hours of the morning.
What say you? Is possible execution a fair consequence of Marvin Guy’s actions on that early May morning?
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