Support Victims of Government Abuse with a Donation of Just $5 a Month
When a SWAT team raids a family’s home in the middle of the night, the officers ought to be very sure they have the right house. But no officer did that the night a SWAT team raided an innocent family’s home in Willard, North Carolina, in April 2024. And the officers had indeed raided the wrong house. Officers terrorized the family with flash-bang grenades, shattered glass, and aimed guns at children as they were ordered out of their bedrooms.
The fugitive for whom the officers were looking was not at the home. Even worse, the officers lacked probable cause to believe he had ever been there. The officers misled a judge into issuing a warrant to search the house based on false information and omitted facts that pointed in the opposite direction. The raid left Alisa Carr, Avery Marshall, and their kids physically harmed; psychologically traumatized; and without a secure and clean home to live. Alisa and Avery can’t afford to repair the damage to the home. And the responsible counties have refused to compensate them for the destruction.
Hoping to prevent other families from suffering the same wrongs, Alisa and Avery have teamed up with IJ to hold the government accountable. Officers cannot lie or disregard obvious or known exculpatory information when applying for a warrant, misleading a judge into issuing a warrant without probable cause. And when officers intentionally destroy an innocent person’s property for the public use of apprehending a suspected criminal, the public as a whole should bear the cost of the damage, not innocent unlucky property owners.
Every Contribution Helps IJ Fight for Americans’ Rights
Your donation of just $5 a month enables IJ to defend the rights of Americans like Alisa and Avery—and defend the constitutional rights we all cherish.
IJ is the national civil liberties law firm that represents everyday people—free of charge—when the government violates their most important constitutional rights.
We focus on the areas of the law that provide the foundation for a free society, and we win nearly three out of every four cases we file despite the challenges inherent in litigating against the government.
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- Your contribution enables us to represent our clients at no cost to them—and to stand with them no matter how long their cases take. And when we win for our clients, we secure precedent that protects the rights of all Americans.
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IJ has litigated 12 U.S. Supreme Court cases since 2002, including 10 victories.
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