Arizona v. Pataky [1]

In March 2009, Phoenix police raided the home of Jeff Pataky, a blogger who runs Bad Phoenix Cops [2], a blog that has been highly critical of the Phoenix Police Department.  According to The Arizona Republic, [3] Pataky's home was raided by ten Phoenix police officers who handcuffed his girlfriend for three hours while they conducted the raid.  "We have heard internally from our police sources that they purposefully did this to stop me," Pataky told the Republic.  "They took my cable modem and wireless router. Anyone worth their salt knows nothing is stored in the cable modem."

The search warrant [4] lists petty theft and computer tampering with the intent to harass as potential crimes. Pataky, who was away on a business trip when the raid occurred, says he has yet to see an affidavit that explains why they had probable cause to conduct the raid. 

The search warrant provides little insight into what police believe Pataky has done.  It does, however, mention repeatedly that police were to search for personal correspondence between Pataky and "Dave Barnes."  According to The Arizona Republic [5], Barnes is a former Phoenix homicide detective who went public in 2007 with claims of mismanaged evidence at the city's crime lab. In May 2009, Barnes' home also was raided by police due to his alleged "involvement in what some officers perceived to be a connection to a blog critical of the police leaders," the Republic reported at the time.

Carlos Miller, who runs the Photography is Not a Crime Blog [6], is reporting [7] that Pataky recently filed a lawsuit over the raid, which netted three computers, routers, modems, hard drives, memory cards and everything necessary to continue blogging. Pataky told Miller that he has not let the raid stop him from blogging, however, "They thought they were going to scare us into a corner but they just made us stronger." 

Update:

07/14/09: Pataky filed a lawsuit [8] against the City of Phoenix and the officers involved  in the raid. Pataky's six-count complaint alleges abuse of process, intentional infliction of emotional distress, harassment, and violation of privacy.

12/17/09: The Reporters Committee reports [9] that Federal Judge James A. Teilborg dismissed Pataky's lawsuit against the city, ruling that the Privacy Protection Act does not apply when the "person possessing the materials is a criminal suspect - rather than an innocent third party - and the police have probable cause."

01/06/10:  Notice of appeal filed by plaintiff Pataky in his lawsuit against the City of Phoenix. 

02/01/10: Carlos Miller reports [10] that a grand jury refused to indict Pataky on the charges related to the search warrant.

03/03/10: Appellant Pataky files a motion to dismiss his appeal [11] of the dismissal of his lawsuit against the City of Phoenix. 

03/05/10: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit grants [12] appellant Pataky's motion to dismiss.