Ken Ballew raid
Encyclopedia
The Ken Ballew raid was a June 7, 1971 federal raid on the home of Kenyon F. Ballew which became a cause célèbre
in the debates
between advocates of gun control and advocates of gun owner rights in the United States.
)) and the local Montgomery County
and Prince George's County
Police Departments planned a joint task force operation on the residence of one James Russell Thomas, Apartment No. 102, 1014 Quebec Terrace, in an apartment complex in Silver Spring, Maryland
.
A teenage burglary
suspect, cooperating with police as an informant, told the county investigators that he had seen guns and grenades in Apartment No. 2 of a white man named "Ken" who drove a white jeep.
ATFD added Apt. 2 to the original raid planned for Apt. 102. When this was run by the US Attorney Office
(USAO) on 4 June 1971, Assistant US Attorney (AUSA) Charles Bernstein informed agent Davis that the information provided was not sufficient to justify searching Apt. 2 in addition to Apt. 102.
Agent Davis set out to compile additional incriminatory evidence to justify adding Apt. 2 to the raid on Apt. 102. Part of the additional information was "Ken"'s full name. ATFD also presented as evidence an anonymous threat from "a source residing in the vicinity of 1014 Quebec Terrace that the police would receive a false criminal report in the vicinity of that apartment building and that police would be shot when they responded to this call." No evidence was presented that the source of this threat was either Apt. 2 or Apt. 102 or even 1014 Quebec Terrace, just "the vicinity" (ATFD stressed that the vicinity of 1014 Quebec Terrace was described as a high crime neighborhood, a haven for known criminals, with frequent reports of burglary and gunfire). A search of records showed Ken Ballew had a misdemeanor
arrest
20 Nov 1970 for carrying a concealed weapon and he had not registered any grenades with the National Firearms Act
registry.
This additional information, presented 7 June 1971 the day of the raid, was deemed adequate probable cause
to add Apt. 2 to the raid on Apt. 102. The search warrant
was approved for knock-service daytime search.
In Apt. 102 the raid team found only two minor children present (a small child and a slightly older babysitter); the agents left a note for James Russell Thomas.
The raid on Apt. 2 was conducted at 8:30pm. The apartment had a solid metal door that opened onto a utility corridor that led to the apartment complex laundry room; Ballew kept that door blocked with furniture. Apt. 2 also had a glass door that Ballew used to enter and exit his apartment. The glass door allowed visitors to identify themselves and their purpose for admission. The raid team entered the utility corridor by a service entrance and approached the solid door to avoid being identified by the occupants.
ATFD agent William H. Seals claimed he knocked on the door, announced "Federal officers with a search warrant, open up." No one opened the door but by placing his ear to the door, Seals heard indistinct sounds of movement inside. ATFD agent Marcus J. Davis decided the occupants had heard the knock and call-out and had been allowed enough time to open the door. Davis ordered the team to breach the door with a battering ram.
Saraluise McNeil claimed that Ken Ballew was in the bath and that she was half-dressed in the bedroom. When the battering ram was first applied to the door, McNeil panicked. Ballew then got out of the bathroom and grabbed an 1847 Colt Walker revolver
. McNeil claimed that they believed burglars were invading their home and that she armed herself with her own revolver
based on that belief. The door was designed to defeat burglary attempts and took six blows to break open.
ATFD agent William H. Seals in civilian clothes (but wearing a badge) came through the door first and saw a nude man in the hallway aiming a revolver at him. Seals yelled to the county officers behind him "He's got a gun!", drew his own pistol from his holster, fired a shot and moved to the left.
In the corridor, County Police Officer Royce R. Hibbs heard the warning "He's got a gun!" followed by a gunshot; Hibbs came through the door next, ducked to the right, firing several shots as he moved.
Officer Louis Ciamillo was third through the door. Ciamillo took aim at Ballew and shot Ballew in the head. Ballew fell to the floor. It was after Ballew was hit and falling that his antique handgun discharged a single round. Ballew's only shot struck the wall at an angle to the hallway at floor level in a downward direction.
on his balcony (the ATF affidavit stated "that Ken had been observed in the recent past playing with several hand grenades in the rear of 1014 Quebec Terrace.") The three grenades with fuse assemblies did not contain igniter cap, fuse or detonating cap; they had been demilitarized to not retain an explosive charge.
against the United States
.
Ballew's attorney pointed out exculpatory evidence ignored by the ATFD. Ballew was a former US Air Force (USAF) security policeman with a clean military record. At the time of the raid Ballew was gainfully employed as a printing pressman at the Washington Post newspaper and was a Boy Scout troop leader. He was a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and owned a collection of legal firearms, mostly Civil War era reproductions. As ex-military, he might reasonably be expected to own souvenirs like inert dummy grenades. While he had an arrest for "carrying concealed weapon", he had no criminal convictions.
(FTCA) claiming damages for personal injuries, alleging that the negligence
of government agents proximately caused his injuries. Ballew's head shot injuries from 1971 were such that he could not be in court for the 1975 trial. Ballew was represented by civilian attorney John T. Bonner while the government was represented by J. Charles Kruse and David B. Waller from the US DoJ, and George Beall and James E. Anderson from the district USAO. The case was heard by District Judge
Alexander Harvey II
.
To guide his ruling, the judge cited long standing principles in federal court: "Acts performed under the stress of an emergency are to be judged for negligence with a different measure from that used in weighing acts performed under normal conditions." and courts "must not too strictly limit what a federal officer should do in carrying out a dangerous duty imposed on him * * * by virtue of his office."
The judge ruled that if Ballew had been shot by federal agent Seals, that would be an assault
and battery
, a criminal act not a negligent act, and the tort act was not the appropriate statute
to pursue redress. Since Ballew was actually shot by County Officer Ciamillo, the shooting was not an act of a federal officer so the federal government could not be held negligent. The government rejected the defense claim that ATFD agent Seals was responsible for the responses of Hibbs and Ciamillo by yelling to the county officers "He's got a gun" and opening fire while they were out in the hallway.
The judge ruled: "On the record here, this Court concludes both that agents of the United States were not negligent in acting as they did before the shooting, and that plaintiff's injuries were caused by his own contributory negligence." The judge went over the defense claims and the facts established by the government.
Ballew's lawyer claimed the federal government was negligent in relying on stale, hearsay
and erroneous information. The defense alleged that the informant against Ballew was not a reliable source; that the ATFD affidavit was so poorly researched that the "white jeep" was actually a Ford Bronco
, not a Willys Jeep
, and that the fact Ballew's last name was unknown to ATFD until the day of the raid was evidence of negligence.
The judge ruled that ATFD relied on information from the county police whom ATFD had every reason to consider a reliable source. Also "a Ford Bronco looks like and could readily be described as a Jeep." The defense argument that an informant who could describe a Bronco as a Jeep could also describe legal arms as illegal arms was rejected.
To counter defense claims that the inert grenades were legal curios or ornaments and not live weapons, the judge cited a prior case as establishing that possession of a glass bottle, flammable liquid and cloth in the same place at the same time was constructive possession of a molotov cocktail
and prosecution did not require an assembled molotov cocktail; therefore, Ballew's possession of both inert grenades and of gunpowder and primers for his guns also constituted possession of live hand grenades, even without assembly of live grenades. Also by modifying three of the grenades to pop caps as noise makers, Ballew had weaponized the grenades and they were no longer inert curios or ornaments. "Although these grenades could not have been exploded as found, they could have been fully activated...."
The defense alleged that staging a raid by fourteen or more agents from different agencies on a domicile had a high potential for error and was negligent. The government countered that the officers acted in overwhelming numbers because 1014 Quebec Terrace was in a high crime neighborhood, with many reports of burglary and gunfire.
The government also argued that, by barricading the entrance to their home and being armed, Ballew and McNeil "were actively resisting the entry of the law enforcement officers." The government disputed the defense claims that the solid metal door that opened on the utility corridor was the backdoor and that the door with a glass window that opened on the street was the "front" door. The government stated that even if it was the backdoor and not the front door, it was an entrance and Ballew was obligated to open it immediately upon the knock of a federal officer serving a lawful warrant.
The judge disputed Ballew's claim he was in the bathtub when agent Seals knocked on the utility door:
While Saraluise McNeil and Kenyon Ballew were married seven months after the 1971 raid and she testified at the 1975 tort trial as Mrs. Ballew, the court referred to her as "the woman he was then living with" and repeatedly referred to her as "Mrs. McNeil."
The judge disputed Ballew's lawyer's claim that Ballew believed his home was being invaded by criminals, not by police.
The judge concluded:
The Ken Ballew raid, and in particular some of the statements made in support of the raid by gun control advocates, radicalized many gun rights advocates in the 1970s. The Ballew raid is also notable because it formed the context of much of the reaction to subsequent federal raids at Ruby Ridge
, Idaho
(21-31 Aug 1992) against the Weaver family and at Waco
, Texas
(28 Feb-19 Apr 1993) against the Branch Davidian sect
.
Shortly after the Ballew raid, an internal federal review of guidelines on the gathering of evidence and on the conduct of searches led to revisions of those guidelines. However, at the Congressional hearings on the Waco raid in 1995, Victor Oboyski testified representing the Law Enforcement Officers Association: "I do not believe that the Branch Davidian
episode was a mere aberration. I believe it was a harbinger of things to come.... The day of a couple of agents or a couple of detectives walking up to somebody's front door and knocking on a door in three piece suits to execute a warrant of any kind is over...."
The chapter entitled June 7, 1971 in John Ross's 1996 novel Unintended Consequences is a historical fiction version of the Ballew raid.
The Social Security Death Index
indicates that Kenyon F. Ballew (born February 18, 1943) died on June 20, 1995. His last record of address was Le Flore, Oklahoma.
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
in the debates
Gun politics in the United States
Gun politics in the United States refers to an ongoing political and social debate regarding both the restriction and availability of firearms within the United States. It has long been among the most controversial and intractable issues in American politics...
between advocates of gun control and advocates of gun owner rights in the United States.
Investigation
In 1971, the federal Alcohol Tobacco Firearms Division (ATFD, precursor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATFBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a federal law enforcement organization within the United States Department of Justice...
)) and the local Montgomery County
Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...
and Prince George's County
Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....
Police Departments planned a joint task force operation on the residence of one James Russell Thomas, Apartment No. 102, 1014 Quebec Terrace, in an apartment complex in Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...
.
A teenage burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
suspect, cooperating with police as an informant, told the county investigators that he had seen guns and grenades in Apartment No. 2 of a white man named "Ken" who drove a white jeep.
ATFD added Apt. 2 to the original raid planned for Apt. 102. When this was run by the US Attorney Office
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
(USAO) on 4 June 1971, Assistant US Attorney (AUSA) Charles Bernstein informed agent Davis that the information provided was not sufficient to justify searching Apt. 2 in addition to Apt. 102.
Agent Davis set out to compile additional incriminatory evidence to justify adding Apt. 2 to the raid on Apt. 102. Part of the additional information was "Ken"'s full name. ATFD also presented as evidence an anonymous threat from "a source residing in the vicinity of 1014 Quebec Terrace that the police would receive a false criminal report in the vicinity of that apartment building and that police would be shot when they responded to this call." No evidence was presented that the source of this threat was either Apt. 2 or Apt. 102 or even 1014 Quebec Terrace, just "the vicinity" (ATFD stressed that the vicinity of 1014 Quebec Terrace was described as a high crime neighborhood, a haven for known criminals, with frequent reports of burglary and gunfire). A search of records showed Ken Ballew had a misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
20 Nov 1970 for carrying a concealed weapon and he had not registered any grenades with the National Firearms Act
National Firearms Act
The National Firearms Act , 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, , enacted on June 26, 1934, currently codified as amended as , is an Act of Congress that, in general, imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms and mandates the registration of those firearms. The...
registry.
This additional information, presented 7 June 1971 the day of the raid, was deemed adequate probable cause
Probable cause
In United States criminal law, probable cause is the standard by which an officer or agent of the law has the grounds to make an arrest, to conduct a personal or property search, or to obtain a warrant for arrest, etc. when criminal charges are being considered. It is also used to refer to the...
to add Apt. 2 to the raid on Apt. 102. The search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
was approved for knock-service daytime search.
Raid
The joint task force of ATFD and county police attempted to carry out raids on two apartments in the same building while retaining the element of surprise: this raised the sense of urgency. The raid team wore "street clothes" to blend in with the "high crime" neighborhood.In Apt. 102 the raid team found only two minor children present (a small child and a slightly older babysitter); the agents left a note for James Russell Thomas.
The raid on Apt. 2 was conducted at 8:30pm. The apartment had a solid metal door that opened onto a utility corridor that led to the apartment complex laundry room; Ballew kept that door blocked with furniture. Apt. 2 also had a glass door that Ballew used to enter and exit his apartment. The glass door allowed visitors to identify themselves and their purpose for admission. The raid team entered the utility corridor by a service entrance and approached the solid door to avoid being identified by the occupants.
ATFD agent William H. Seals claimed he knocked on the door, announced "Federal officers with a search warrant, open up." No one opened the door but by placing his ear to the door, Seals heard indistinct sounds of movement inside. ATFD agent Marcus J. Davis decided the occupants had heard the knock and call-out and had been allowed enough time to open the door. Davis ordered the team to breach the door with a battering ram.
Saraluise McNeil claimed that Ken Ballew was in the bath and that she was half-dressed in the bedroom. When the battering ram was first applied to the door, McNeil panicked. Ballew then got out of the bathroom and grabbed an 1847 Colt Walker revolver
Walker Colt
The Colt Walker is a single action revolver with a revolving cylinder holding six charges of black powder behind six bullets. It was designed in 1846 as a collaboration between Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker and American firearms inventor Samuel Colt....
. McNeil claimed that they believed burglars were invading their home and that she armed herself with her own revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
based on that belief. The door was designed to defeat burglary attempts and took six blows to break open.
ATFD agent William H. Seals in civilian clothes (but wearing a badge) came through the door first and saw a nude man in the hallway aiming a revolver at him. Seals yelled to the county officers behind him "He's got a gun!", drew his own pistol from his holster, fired a shot and moved to the left.
In the corridor, County Police Officer Royce R. Hibbs heard the warning "He's got a gun!" followed by a gunshot; Hibbs came through the door next, ducked to the right, firing several shots as he moved.
Officer Louis Ciamillo was third through the door. Ciamillo took aim at Ballew and shot Ballew in the head. Ballew fell to the floor. It was after Ballew was hit and falling that his antique handgun discharged a single round. Ballew's only shot struck the wall at an angle to the hallway at floor level in a downward direction.
The "Grenade-Type" Items
While one grenade was explicitly marked "inert," all were unloaded dummy or inert grenades of the type sold at Army-Navy surplus stores as curios or relics. Such grenades were classified by then (1971) and current (2009) ATF regulations as non-weapon curios and may be owned as military souvenirs without federal registry Of the five grenades, two were bookends for a collection of military books and three had been rigged to pop caps: Ballew had used them as handheld noisemakers on Fourth of JulyIndependence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
on his balcony (the ATF affidavit stated "that Ken had been observed in the recent past playing with several hand grenades in the rear of 1014 Quebec Terrace.") The three grenades with fuse assemblies did not contain igniter cap, fuse or detonating cap; they had been demilitarized to not retain an explosive charge.
After the Raid
No trials and no convictions resulted from the raids on Apt. 102 and Apt. 2 at 1014 Quebec Terrace on 7 June 1971. Ballew survived his head wound but suffered brain damage. Ballew filed a tort suitTort
A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a wrong that involves a breach of a civil duty owed to someone else. It is differentiated from a crime, which involves a breach of a duty owed to society in general...
against the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Ballew's attorney pointed out exculpatory evidence ignored by the ATFD. Ballew was a former US Air Force (USAF) security policeman with a clean military record. At the time of the raid Ballew was gainfully employed as a printing pressman at the Washington Post newspaper and was a Boy Scout troop leader. He was a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and owned a collection of legal firearms, mostly Civil War era reproductions. As ex-military, he might reasonably be expected to own souvenirs like inert dummy grenades. While he had an arrest for "carrying concealed weapon", he had no criminal convictions.
The Tort Suit
Ballew sued the government under the Federal Tort Claims ActFederal Tort Claims Act
The Federal Tort Claims Act or "FTCA", , is a statute enacted by the United States Congress in 1948. "Federal Tort Claims Act" was also previously the official short title passed by the Seventy-ninth Congress on August 2, 1946 as Title IV of the Legislative Reorganization Act, 60 Stat...
(FTCA) claiming damages for personal injuries, alleging that the negligence
Negligence
Negligence is a failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances. The area of tort law known as negligence involves harm caused by carelessness, not intentional harm.According to Jay M...
of government agents proximately caused his injuries. Ballew's head shot injuries from 1971 were such that he could not be in court for the 1975 trial. Ballew was represented by civilian attorney John T. Bonner while the government was represented by J. Charles Kruse and David B. Waller from the US DoJ, and George Beall and James E. Anderson from the district USAO. The case was heard by District Judge
United States federal judge
In the United States, the title of federal judge usually means a judge appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate in accordance with Article II of the United States Constitution....
Alexander Harvey II
Alexander Harvey II
Alexander Harvey II is a former United States federal judge.Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Harvey was in the United States Army during World War II, from 1943 to 1946. He received a B.A. from Yale University in 1947, and an LL.B. from Columbia Law School in 1950...
.
To guide his ruling, the judge cited long standing principles in federal court: "Acts performed under the stress of an emergency are to be judged for negligence with a different measure from that used in weighing acts performed under normal conditions." and courts "must not too strictly limit what a federal officer should do in carrying out a dangerous duty imposed on him * * * by virtue of his office."
The judge ruled that if Ballew had been shot by federal agent Seals, that would be an assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
and battery
Battery (crime)
Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the fear of such contact.In the United States, criminal battery, or simply battery, is the use of force against another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact...
, a criminal act not a negligent act, and the tort act was not the appropriate statute
Statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...
to pursue redress. Since Ballew was actually shot by County Officer Ciamillo, the shooting was not an act of a federal officer so the federal government could not be held negligent. The government rejected the defense claim that ATFD agent Seals was responsible for the responses of Hibbs and Ciamillo by yelling to the county officers "He's got a gun" and opening fire while they were out in the hallway.
The judge ruled: "On the record here, this Court concludes both that agents of the United States were not negligent in acting as they did before the shooting, and that plaintiff's injuries were caused by his own contributory negligence." The judge went over the defense claims and the facts established by the government.
Ballew's lawyer claimed the federal government was negligent in relying on stale, hearsay
Hearsay
Hearsay is information gathered by one person from another person concerning some event, condition, or thing of which the first person had no direct experience. When submitted as evidence, such statements are called hearsay evidence. As a legal term, "hearsay" can also have the narrower meaning of...
and erroneous information. The defense alleged that the informant against Ballew was not a reliable source; that the ATFD affidavit was so poorly researched that the "white jeep" was actually a Ford Bronco
Ford Bronco
The Ford Bronco is a sport utility vehicle that was produced from 1966 to 1996, with five distinct generations. Broncos can be divided into two categories: early Broncos and full-size Broncos ....
, not a Willys Jeep
Willys MB
The Willys MB US Army Jeep and the Ford GPW, were manufactured from 1941 to 1945. These small four-wheel drive utility vehicles are considered the iconic World War II Jeep, and inspired many similar light utility vehicles. Over the years, the World War II Jeep later evolved into the "CJ" civilian...
, and that the fact Ballew's last name was unknown to ATFD until the day of the raid was evidence of negligence.
The judge ruled that ATFD relied on information from the county police whom ATFD had every reason to consider a reliable source. Also "a Ford Bronco looks like and could readily be described as a Jeep." The defense argument that an informant who could describe a Bronco as a Jeep could also describe legal arms as illegal arms was rejected.
To counter defense claims that the inert grenades were legal curios or ornaments and not live weapons, the judge cited a prior case as establishing that possession of a glass bottle, flammable liquid and cloth in the same place at the same time was constructive possession of a molotov cocktail
Molotov cocktail
The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...
and prosecution did not require an assembled molotov cocktail; therefore, Ballew's possession of both inert grenades and of gunpowder and primers for his guns also constituted possession of live hand grenades, even without assembly of live grenades. Also by modifying three of the grenades to pop caps as noise makers, Ballew had weaponized the grenades and they were no longer inert curios or ornaments. "Although these grenades could not have been exploded as found, they could have been fully activated...."
The defense alleged that staging a raid by fourteen or more agents from different agencies on a domicile had a high potential for error and was negligent. The government countered that the officers acted in overwhelming numbers because 1014 Quebec Terrace was in a high crime neighborhood, with many reports of burglary and gunfire.
The government also argued that, by barricading the entrance to their home and being armed, Ballew and McNeil "were actively resisting the entry of the law enforcement officers." The government disputed the defense claims that the solid metal door that opened on the utility corridor was the backdoor and that the door with a glass window that opened on the street was the "front" door. The government stated that even if it was the backdoor and not the front door, it was an entrance and Ballew was obligated to open it immediately upon the knock of a federal officer serving a lawful warrant.
The judge disputed Ballew's claim he was in the bathtub when agent Seals knocked on the utility door:
While Saraluise McNeil and Kenyon Ballew were married seven months after the 1971 raid and she testified at the 1975 tort trial as Mrs. Ballew, the court referred to her as "the woman he was then living with" and repeatedly referred to her as "Mrs. McNeil."
The judge disputed Ballew's lawyer's claim that Ballew believed his home was being invaded by criminals, not by police.
The judge concluded:
Aftermath and Controversy
Multiple claims echoed in the gun press: that a proper investigation would have shown that Ballew was not a dangerous person, that such evidence as was presented against Ballew did not rise to the level of probable cause to justify a raid, that the proper way to execute a knock-service warrant specifying a day-time search of a home is to go in daylight to the front door, knock, and present the warrant to the subject, that breaking down the backdoor with a battering ram at 8:30pm was not day-time knock-service, that when people dressed in street clothes break down your door at night the natural reaction is to defend yourself, and that this incident demonstrated that the ATFD zeal in enforcing gun control had gone too far.The Ken Ballew raid, and in particular some of the statements made in support of the raid by gun control advocates, radicalized many gun rights advocates in the 1970s. The Ballew raid is also notable because it formed the context of much of the reaction to subsequent federal raids at Ruby Ridge
Ruby Ridge
Ruby Ridge was the site of a violent confrontation and siege in northern Idaho in 1992. It involved Randy Weaver, his family, Weaver's friend Kevin Harris, and agents of the United States Marshals Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
(21-31 Aug 1992) against the Weaver family and at Waco
Waco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
(28 Feb-19 Apr 1993) against the Branch Davidian sect
Waco Siege
The Waco siege began on February 28, 1993, and ended violently 50 days later on April 19. The siege began when the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms attempted to execute a search warrant at the Branch Davidian ranch at Mount Carmel, a property located east-northeast of Waco,...
.
Shortly after the Ballew raid, an internal federal review of guidelines on the gathering of evidence and on the conduct of searches led to revisions of those guidelines. However, at the Congressional hearings on the Waco raid in 1995, Victor Oboyski testified representing the Law Enforcement Officers Association: "I do not believe that the Branch Davidian
Branch Davidian
The Branch Davidians are a Protestant sect that originated in 1955 from a schism in the Davidian Seventh Day Adventists , a reform movement that began within the Seventh-day Adventist Church around 1930...
episode was a mere aberration. I believe it was a harbinger of things to come.... The day of a couple of agents or a couple of detectives walking up to somebody's front door and knocking on a door in three piece suits to execute a warrant of any kind is over...."
The chapter entitled June 7, 1971 in John Ross's 1996 novel Unintended Consequences is a historical fiction version of the Ballew raid.
The Social Security Death Index
Social Security Death Index
The Social Security Death Index is a database of death records created from the United States Social Security Administration's Death Master File Extract. Most persons who have died since 1962 who had a Social Security Number and whose death has been reported to the Social Security Administration...
indicates that Kenyon F. Ballew (born February 18, 1943) died on June 20, 1995. His last record of address was Le Flore, Oklahoma.
See also
- MOVE raid in PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
(1985) - FBI Miami shootout, 1986FBI Miami shootout, 1986The 1986 FBI Miami shootout was a gun battle that occurred on April 11, 1986 in an unincorporated region of Miami-Dade County in south Florida between eight Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and two serial bank robbers. During the firefight, Special Agents Jerry L. Dove and Benjamin P. Grogan...
- Ruby RidgeRuby RidgeRuby Ridge was the site of a violent confrontation and siege in northern Idaho in 1992. It involved Randy Weaver, his family, Weaver's friend Kevin Harris, and agents of the United States Marshals Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation...
incident in IdahoIdahoIdaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
(1992) - Waco SiegeWaco SiegeThe Waco siege began on February 28, 1993, and ended violently 50 days later on April 19. The siege began when the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms attempted to execute a search warrant at the Branch Davidian ranch at Mount Carmel, a property located east-northeast of Waco,...
(1993) - Unintended Consequences (novel)