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No. To be guilty of murder, you need to show intent to kill.

This is America, where the police kill tourists who report rape and throw flashbangs into cribs with babies in them. SWATting does show intent to kill.

the only way you can argue that he had any intent to kill is to argue that everybody should accept that whenever the US police shows up somewhere, there is a decent chance that they will kill an innocent

That's correct. A reasonable person would know that there is a "decent" (some might call it indecent, if they were actually against police shooting innocents, as you appear not to be) chance that someone they have SWATted will be murdered by overzealous police who do not do their jobs correctly or intelligently. The standard is a reasonable person, and no person can reasonably not know this today. It's in the news constantly.

The police officer did. When you unload your gun on a guy, you intend to kill. And when you do so being a trained professional whose job is to maintain law and order,

A very, very poorly trained professional. We have the least pre-hiring police training in the western world, and it shows. We also have some of the least stringent hiring requirements. Someone can be fired from department after department and still keep getting jobs. Try that in any other career. If you get fired as a house painter just two or three times, you're probably going to have to become a carpet layer or something. If you get fired two or three times as a cop, even with evidence of wrongdoing you will still be able to get hired as a cop again, by someone who has looked into your record and decided you are just the right kind of person to do the job in their town.

Literally everything is wrong with policing in America, starting with police unions. Just another case where the people get fucked by unionization, which is only even necessary because of our shit labor laws and our general unwillingness to protect the worker.

Technology my tail! What about things changed by our caring, loving, and omniscient government? When traveling — by air or train — without registering with authorities was possible? When being mistreated at the airport would cause the mistreater to be disciplined, rather than the victim — arrested?

When one could buy health insurance for about $140/month (just over $200 in today's money)? Remember?..

how else are they trying to manipulate? And that's how criminals go free

That's a very good argument. What remains to show is that in this case the warrant-issuing judge was indeed "left in the dark". The write-up does not even allege that. Nor does TFA.

Heck, TFA implicitly admits, this was not the case — when it laments the judge's possible ignorance of Tor-technology:

It's worth noting that judges sometimes don't understand the technology behind the warrants they are asked to approve by police.

Police have done their work most professionally and there is no cause for outrage whatsoever.

Worse! The unfounded outrage dripping off this page's "insightful" comments cheapens and devalues the justified outrage in other cases.

Unless you are prepared to state, that something even stronger than the 4th Amendment protects our homes, I can't see, how you can fault Seattle cops in this case.

Your statistics don't sound out of line, but I'd love citations. The one I've got shows sexual assault (not specifically rape) is higher for cops but 2x rather than 4x. On the other hand, it shows between 5 and 6 times as high for cops as non-cops for homicide. Copblock has an article about relative rates for cops.

When race is the issue, remember that homicide with both white and black victims is primarily an intraracial issue. Most (84%) white murder victims are killed by whites and most (93%) blacks are killed by blacks. Murder is a mostly intraracial crime.

it should be legally obvious that you can't be arrested *only* for "resisting arrest"

Logically, that makes complete sense. However, police officers and District Attorneys, and the legal system in general, do not operate on a purely logical basis.

"Resisting arrest" should probably be renamed "Contempt of Cop"

Try asking anyone under 30 if they know what the phrase "Papers Please!" denotes

It's just two words... It's a lot of things.

It's when the Military place soldiers in a natural disaster area such as New Orleans after Katrina requiring you to show military ID or proof of government authorization, to avoid arrest, or having vehicles impounded

It's an attack onAmerican birthright citizenship

It's two words that succinctly describe America's dark future.

Personal and Professional Encounters with Surveillance

anti-state.com: May I See Your Papers Please?

It's what Mr. Hiibel of Nevada went to jail for refusing to comply with

It's what police do now to ordinary people minding their own business.

It's congress work on the REAL ID act

It's a name given to a section of an Arizona law upheld by the Supreme court.

It's the name of a complaint against changes the US is making starting this Fall 2013 to further restrict the free travel of Americans and greatly increase the difficulty of US citizens getting passports

It's the name of a dystopian video game about communist immigration control.

It's the name of an anti-TSA blog

It's a request you comply with when asked by the police; otherwise, you face immediate arrest.

• Texas 77 year old Grandmother arrested after refusing to show ID
• Police arrest for refusing to show ID while on private property
• Exhibit 1
• Exhibit 2: According to the Supreme Court, the police may arrest for failure to identify
• Arrested at Circuit City for refusing to show ID: "It all started when I refused to show my receipt to the loss prevention employee at Circuit City, and it ended when a police officer arrested me for refusing to provide my driver's license."
• I follow the blog of a guy who walked across the country (California to New York) last year. He was arrested in Greencastle, Indiana last summer, after a prison worker called the police to report him as a suspicious person after they exchanged words while he was walking past the prison complex.
• Florida Cops Tase man for refusing to show ID
• Refusal to show id in Georgia (arrest)
• Man in Arizona arrested for refusing to surrender firearm to officers who refused to show their own ID

I'll play devils advocate for a moment. In part, the cops have attained these capabilities because of the increased capabilities of organized crime and street-level criminals. Something of an arms race going on.

Add to that the fact that the military conglomerates were looking for a way to expand their markets. Police agencies are the perfect answer.

Done with the advocate thing.

Not only are the cops armed like small armies, they act without regard for law. Here is an egregious example. A court's marshal in Clark County, NV, sexually assaults a woman in family court and then arrests her when she tried to confront him about it, IN FRONT OF A JUDGE. Who then proceeds to act as if nothing happened.

Given the impunity with which these people behave, and the firepower they are enhanced with, people should start to question how the police are a benefit to society.

It also completely ignores recent court decisions which have ruled public photography to be a FIRST AMENDMENT right.

The rulings that public photography is a First Amendment right goes back a long, long ways. The recent ones just re-affirm that. The author of TFA is woefully ignorant of the state-of-the-law when it comes to photography.

Unfortunately, so are many public officials

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3070242/
http://www.news-journal.com/news/police/panola-county-sheriff-arrested-charged-in-corruption-investigation/article_211e132a-57d9-5607-a1b5-c66ca3368304.html
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/chesterfield-co-sheriff-face-corruption-charges-fr/nWzyH/

and the best one:
http://www.copblock.org/15718/story-of-how-a-corrupt-sherrif-got-taken-down-by-a-20-year-old/

And this is just a tiny sample. Can you imagine these goons with automated access to well processed information?

That's why it is important to protect yourself by filming every interaction you have with the police. Also, make sure to use a streaming video app in case they confiscate your phone as "evidence".

The most important thing is to KNOW YOUR RIGHTS in any particular situation.

http://www.copblock.org/tag/know-your-rights

It is easy to say "don't talk to the cops" but in a stress situation, it's hard to keep your wits about you. Print one of the fliers from copblock and keep it in your car or on your person. Having a "script" will really help.

If you capture any good video upload them to "copblock.org" and "filmingcops.org".

Wrong. Read through some of the posts on http://www.copblock.org/ and you'll see that it's not just "a" police officer: it's a pattern all across the country, even though, by now, they should realize that filming the police in public is legal. That it's recognized as legal by the courts means nothing: the cops consistently ignore this and harass and destroy cameras because - wait for it... - they can. I wish this was an isolated incident. CopBlock exists because it's not.

Note: I'm not involved with CopBlock beyond being a regular reader.

See also: http://www.copblock.org/

It's cute that you think public officers are held accountable. See http://www.copblock.org/ for many examples - too many - where you're far from right.

Yes, one could only hope: http://www.copblock.org/23079/andrew-messina-did-he-have-to-die/

Or this:

http://www.copblock.org/858/alaska-troopers-assault-man-with-anti-obama-sign/

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6512746

Free speech knows no party affiliation. Free speech suppression is universal by both Donkey and Elephant...

Ever heard of Cop Block? Not 24-hour recording, but a similar idea of always keeping the cops on-the-record.

1) Yes, in fact, I discussed that sort of approach, and it's also been discussed as part of some contentious ongoing battles over power lines...
The 'wiring of NH' is something folks are discussing, and no answers or good plans (IMHO) yet.
The more south you are, and the more urban, of course, the better the situation

2) A recent 2nd Circuit decision and a number of NH decisions have helped a lot. http://www.copblock.org/tag/new-hampshire/
has some news on this. Plus "On the Job, on the Record" bill continues to be worked on in the Legislature.

3) New Hampshire's greatest weakness? Hmm... it's not the "cold" (mild winters and global warming, sweaters and fun stuff to do in winter, all help), and it's not Boston folks (most of the worst voting people live near the educational institutions... not the border of Mass...)
We have low taxes (esp compared to NJ), more relative freedoms (not perfect, but overall best in US already), and lots of tourism...

If I had to name a 'problem', it's that New England tends to be very conservative in taste, meaning that Dunkin Donuts is everywhere, so finding good coffee is hard, Spicy/Ethnic food is findable, but not common place. There is a long tradition, so attempts to restore 'the old NH' can be good (more freedomwise), but things which push against tradition are an uphill battle. While true everywhere, there is a certain reticence in New Hampshire folks (for better or worse). In some ways, this is WHY it's still the best (local politics, town meetings), and in other ways, it's still very hard to make that change happen (local politics, town meetings)

But I wouldn't change it for the world... it's just the other side of the coin...

What if the law becomes a tool to criminalize those that dare to stand up against an unjust regime?

It already has. Just look around Slashdot for all the stories of cops using wiretapping laws against people videotaping them.

And in reply to the rest of your comment: This article from CopBlock is highly relevant.

With a sensible jury, the bystander can get away with it. Pete Eyre and Adam Mueller recently won just such a case.

It was a close call, though.

Freedom Groping is still an option.

http://www.copblock.org/6076/woman-charged-with-felony-after-groping-female-tsa-agent/

Unless the victims sue and start winning big judgments, this behavior isn't going to change.

With the only way for that to happen being an informed, prepared population, perhaps it's time for the /. readership to arm themselves with technology. The camera is the new gun.