NO-KNOCK WARRANTS USED DESPITE DANGER FOR POLICE

Warrants that permit police to knock down a door or break a window to make
an arrest or search a home are still used in Oklahoma in spite of the 1999
shooting death of a state trooper who was issuing one of the warrants.
Trooper David "Rocky" Eales, 49, was killed when his unmarked sport utility
vehicle led a five-vehicle tactical team that was attempting to serve a
so-called no-knock warrant to search for methamphetamine at Kenneth Eugene
Barrett's cabin in rural Sequoyah County.

A mistrial was declared in Barrett's first-degree murder trial late Friday.
Jurors said later that one of Barrett's 12 jurors believed he acted in
self-defense when he fired a semiautomatic rifle on Eales' vehicle.

Officials said no-knock warrants create an element of danger for law
enforcement authorities who are authorized to enter a residence without
first knocking or identifying themselves.

A law that expanded guidelines for no-knock warrants was approved by the
Legislature and signed by Gov. Frank Keating in 1999, the same year Eales
was killed.