Scott Raid Update
Mar 31, 1993
L.A. Times
This is an update on the L.A. County Sheriff's deadly raid on 61 year-old reclusive millionaire Donald P. Scott's scenic 200 acre Malibu Canyon ranch. Mr. Scott had refused on several occasions to sell his property to the state. He was then raided and shot to death when he responded to his wife's screams with a gun in his hand. Mr. Scott, having just had eye surgery, could not see very well, but started to lower his gun when officers at a distance identified themselves and told him to drop the gun. It is at this time he was shot. Shortly after the shooting, Mr. Scott's attorney accused the assault team (consisting of L.A. Sheriff's Deputies and Federal Drug Enforcement Officers), of staging the raid simply to seize land that was otherwise unavailable. The Sheriff's Department was, of course, indignant that anyone could suggest such a thing. A 5 month investigation by Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury has just been completed. It is his findings that the raid WAS staged in order to seize Scott's $5M ranch and there was NO LEGAL JUSTIFICATION for the raid. His evidence includes a copy of the pre-raid briefing which contained local area property value appraisals and the key finding that the Deputy securing the search warrant used FALSE information to do so, then led the multi-agency assault team to the isolated ranch in hopes of finding drugs. It is my understanding that even with this evidence, the District Attorney is reluctant to prosecute any of the assault team individually. Scott's widow and attorney, on the other hand, are demanding that the officer who shot her half-blind husband be tried for murder. COMMENT: The common defense for shootings of this type consists of "the officer's life was in danger." That seems to relieve the shooter of any personal responsibility. Unfortunately, with the various government assault teams more and more using flash-bang tactics in the dead of the night, the death toll of INNOCENT people will continue to rise, ...and no one will be held accountable.