Truly disturbing police raid

If you've been following Apple's thug style reaction to Gizmodo's acquisition of their next generation iPhone, you might be interested in reading the legal documents concerning the incident in which cops broke down the front door of the writer's house, made the writer and his wife stand outside and wait until they swept the house and confiscated computers and hard drives. This is pretty shocking material. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and read the first hand account by the writer. Also be sure to hop on over to Instapundit for a legal opinion. Again, what country do we live in?

Last Friday night, California's Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team entered editor Jason Chen's home without him present, seizing four computers and two servers. They did so using a warrant by Judge of Superior Court of San Mateo. According to Gaby Darbyshire, COO of Gawker Media LLC, the search warrant to remove these computers was invalid under section 1524(g) of the California Penal Code.

Instapundit:

First, in the absence of an unusually solicitous California statute, there’d be no claim by Apple (the most powerful gang here) against Gizmodo — their employee lost the iPhone in a bar, and that would be their tough luck. But there’s also another unusually solicitous California statute that immunizes journalists. But even in the absence of the statutes, the cops would never have raided, say, a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News, because if they had, the Mercury News would have run a 16-part series on police corruption and ineptitude. They’re not similarly afraid of bloggers, because bloggers don’t have as powerful a gang, or so they think.