Liberty Minute December 26 2013

The intruders came before dawn, hurling grenades and beating down the door of the home 28-year-old Henry Magee shared with his pregnant girlfriend. Disoriented and terrified, Magee grabbed a gun and fired at the first stranger he saw.

Magee believed that the invaders were robbers; after all, who else would be breaking into a home before six in the morning? He acted in fear for his life, and that of his girlfriend and unborn child. He was in his own home. The shooting was clearly an act of self-defense. Yet Magee is now in jail facing a charge of capital murder because the uninvited armed stranger he fatally shot in his own home was Burleson County Sheriff?s Deputy Adam Sowders.

Sowders and seven other officers were carrying out a no-knock warrant looking for narcotics. That warrant was the product of an anonymous tip. The search of the Houston-area home turned up a trivial amount of marijuana that would barely be enough to sustain a misdemeanor charge. Magee had prior drug convictions on his record; Sowders had recently been promoted to investigator, and was probably eager to make a quick arrest.

Sowders should not have died. Magee should not be executed for defending his home.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.