ZANNA ATTORNEY VICKI LOPEZ WINS ILLEGAL SEARCH AND SEIZURE CASE AGAINST THE STATE vs Pastor Anderson

WATCH VIDEO CLIP HERE Pastor Anderson beaten and tasered by DPS
August 13, 2010 Yuma, Arizona
A victory for the Bill of Rights and the Fourth Amendment

Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church of Tempe, Arizona, was tasered several times, beaten and tortured April 14, 2009, by Department of Public Safety (DPS) representatives of the Arizona State Police and the U.S. Border Patrol at a "suspicionless" interior Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 8 approximately 75 miles east of Yuma between San Diego and Phoenix. Officers ordered Pastor Anderson to open his trunk for inspection claiming their dog alerted, meaning that he either had drugs or bodies. Anderson politely refused and requested that they bring the dog back to check again. Rather than comply with Pastor Anderson’s respectful request, the officers got hostile. They bashed his windows, pulled him out of his car where they ground his head between jackboots and glass and began tasering him though he was not resisting. All the time the officers were laughing, mocking and saying insulting things to him while he begged for mercy.
Then while he tried to be silent, they continued to beat and torture him.
Pastor Anderson was criminally charged with 2 misdemeanors for his conduct on April14, 2009, when he refused a warrant-less search at an internal border patrol checkpoint on I-8 75 miles east of Yuma, AZ.
The 2 charges are "Failure to Obey an Officer Directing a Motor Vehicle" and "Obstructing the Highway."
After the second day of Steven Anderson's jury trial, he was found NOT GUILTY on both counts (see statutes below) as evidence was presented to the 6 panel jury, with one alternate. The jury was in deliberation for 1.5 hours.

Count #1: ARS 13-2906-A
Obstructing a highway or other public thoroughfare (a class 3 misdemeanor).

Count #2: A.R.S. 13-2509-A
Resisting an order directing, regulating or controlling a motor vehicle (a class 2 misdemeanor).

The prosecution presented 3 witnesses (border patrol agent and DPS officers) and the hour-long video of Steven's stop at the border patrol checkpoint #1159, stationed at mile marker 78 along Arizona Highway 8 between Yuma and Gila Bend. The defense did not call any witnesses, as the character of the defendant was evident in video.

The courtroom got an education on the 4th and 5th amendment, as well as being left with something to think about in regards to the abuses of the federal (U.S. Border Patrol) and state (Local DPS) governmental agencies - namely if you don't comply with their 'orders' (without probable cause of a crime being committed), you are subject to further interrogation, arrest, and in Steven's case, being tased.

Thank you Steven for standing up for your rights (and ours) as an American, even in the face of intimidation by 'law enforcement'.

Thank you Vicky Lopez (an attorney with Marc Victor's law firm) for doing an exceptional job in presenting the case.

This is just another example of law-abiding citizens standing up against corrupt Federal and State Government Agencies, exposing unconstitutional violations and abuse of power... and justice being served.

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