Pro-Life Dad Slaps MASSIVE Malicious Prosecution Suit On Feds Involved In Pre-Dawn Raid
This is exactly the kind of counter-strike we need to start force rogue cops and prosecutors to pump the brakes. Anyone maliciously abusing their power against innocent citizens should pay a price.
There is no ‘I only followed orders’ defence if the orders you are enforcing are unlawful. And the claim being made by the lawyers representing Mark Houck and his family is that the people named in this suit used a massive (and needlessly dangerous) show of force absent any probable cause to back it up.
Worse than merely lacking probable cause, the suit alleges the charges were directly motivated by animus against his entirely lawful Pro-life values and based on a deliberate misrepresentation of his actions in a confrontation with a Planned Parenthood escort.
At no point in Mr. Houck’s life has he been charged with a crime, nor has he, at any point, owned a firearm.
That did not stop the Feds from swarming his home, their guns drawn and with Mark’s kids crying, despite the fact that Mark’s own lawyer had been in contact with law enforcement and had previously indicated willingness to present himself to authorities if need be. Rather than take Mark up on the offer to work with them directly, the cut off contact until the day of the pre-dawn raid.
The federal government is being sued, as are ten named (or soon-to-be named upon discovery) law enforcement officers involved in the arrest of Mr. Houck.
This writer can’t help but notice how the federal government has shown an affection for such show-of-force arrests when the person being arrested just happens to hold the ‘wrong’ political opinions or allegiances… going all the way up to the Mar-A-Lago raid.
The suit details Mr. Houck’s long history of peaceful pro-Life activism, which has resulted in roughly 100 live births that likely would never have seen the light of day… and has detailed his care for women who were escorted to the nearby pro-life clinic, and in at least one instance, accompanied a young woman to a nearby hospital for follow-up with a medical need. When you think of all the usual markings of a real desparado who must be treated as a dangerous offender, you think of a guy like that, right?
No?
That’s excactly the point his lawyers are making.
The 77-page document his lawyers filed detail the incident in which he was arrested, including the long history the other party has had in violating Planned Parenthood’s own principles governing the conduct of their volunteers. They are NOT allowed to antagonize protesters, but the individual in question has a long record of being disciplined internally for doing exacty that.
As Houck was ALSO working with a reproductive care center, both parties were operating under the protection of the FACE act. By law, neither group is permitted to attack or intimidate the other group. The other party (Mr Love) did not face any charges for his repeated violations.
“Only this time, when Mr. Love saw Mr. Houck talking to the two women and showing them a CWCA brochure, Mr. Love ran nearly 100 feet to where Mr. Houck and the two women were talking. Mr. Houck and the women were located approximately 20 feet from the CWCA entrance.” (Page 15 of the PDF)
In that Love interposed himself between Houck and the women, prevented conversation, and prevented Houck from giving the literature to the women with whom he was speaking, Love, not Houck, was in violation of the FACE act in the first incident mentioned.
The FBI filed no charges in the incident, and despite having plenty of time to collect relevant information, delayed any follow-up long enough that the 30-day security video loop had been recorded over with newer footage. They didn’t take the incident very seriously when Planned Parenthood volunteers were the violators.
In physically obstructing with his body the work of a volunteer in supporting another individual, this was a clear violation of the same statute being used to lock away grandmothers holding prayer vigils outside of abortion mills.
The second incident involved a confrontation in which Love came up to Houck and his son, with no members of the public accessing what the law considers reproductive services or related counseling involved. No services were denied. Clash Daily has described that in greater detail elsewhere. (We’ve also got some stories about lives Mark’s ministry have changed, and cases where Biden’s DOJ recommended ZERO jail time for violent anti-Catholic hate crimes.)
State authories did not charge Houck in the confrontation, as there had been no crime.
“ 24 Activists Claims that SWAT Force Was Used in Arrest at Upper Bucks Home, TheMorning Call (Sept. 27, 2022), https://www.mcall.com/2022/09/27/fbi-denies-anti-abortion-activists-claims-that-swat-force-was-used-in-arrest-at-upper-bucks-home/.
113. The District Attorney’s statement confirms that federal investigative and/or law enforcement officers were aware that Mr.Love’s complaint contained false allegations and that the federal officers, nonetheless, communicated directly with the state authorities about not pursuing the private criminal complaint so the DOJ could pursue a Federal Indictment.
114. Mr. Love did his part and purposely failed to appear for trial. The state court dismissed Mr. Love’s complaint on April 25, 2022, for his failure to appear and prosecute his case.”
Read that last paragraph again. Slowly. The DA was aware that no crime had occurred, that Love had made false allegations against Houck, and the Feds STILL took charge of this case, coordinating with the lower authorities to coordinate making it a federal issue.
When they showed up at his door to arrest him, no warrant was provided. Only an ominous ‘you know why we are here’.
This is a good time to mention the background context of the firebombed pro-life centers and churches that had been firebombed and otherwise vandalized in response to leaked news of how SCOTUS was going to rule on the Dobbs decision… where an organized group of agitators with a name ‘Jane’s Revenge’ was openly threatening acts of escalating violence if they didn’t get their way. But the FBI didn’t prioritize any of that. Under Biden and Merrick Garland, they prioritized this.
The complaint goes on to lay out how the Department of Justice, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta made it clear that it was the position of the DOJ that FACE Act protections extended exclusively to pro-abortion groups, and not to their pro-life counterparts, contrary to explicit language in the statue.
From there, evidence supporting a malicious selective prosecution case is laid out in the remainder of the document. For example:
The FBI targeted Mr. Houck for indictment without probable cause because of his beliefs, his public prayer and speech, and the fact that he is a counselor associated with a crisis pregnancy center.
157. The FBI personnel, including Special Agent Jackson, were all aware of the discriminatory policies and practices surrounding the enforcement of theFACE Act, and that the DOJ was targeting Mr. Houck and protecting Mr. Love inan effort to intimidate and disrupt the activities of pro-life counselors and pregnancy crisis centers.
158. Count I of Mr. Houck’s Indictment, which charged the First Incident, also contained egregious factual errors.
It will only take a couple of instances of law enforcement agents being personally liable in tort law for violations of civil rights before motivated self-interest takes priority over political agendas and law enforcement will refuse to risk their neck to push an agenda like the one Biden is pushing.
For anyone keeping score at home, that’s what a system of checks and balances is supposed to look like. It’s supposed to put an engine retarder brake on the whims of tyrants.
If the enforcement mechanism of the tyrannical will thinks twice before sticking their own neck and livelihood out for some pencil-pushing DC bureaucrat, it’s harder for them to throw their weight around against their political enemies.
As Martha Stewart used to say as her tagline, ‘and that’s a good thing’.
And did we mention that Mark Houck is running for Congress?
There is no ‘I only followed orders’ defence if the orders you are enforcing are unlawful. And the claim being made by the lawyers representing Mark Houck and his family is that the people named in this suit used a massive (and needlessly dangerous) show of force absent any probable cause to back it up.
Worse than merely lacking probable cause, the suit alleges the charges were directly motivated by animus against his entirely lawful Pro-life values and based on a deliberate misrepresentation of his actions in a confrontation with a Planned Parenthood escort.
At no point in Mr. Houck’s life has he been charged with a crime, nor has he, at any point, owned a firearm.
That did not stop the Feds from swarming his home, their guns drawn and with Mark’s kids crying, despite the fact that Mark’s own lawyer had been in contact with law enforcement and had previously indicated willingness to present himself to authorities if need be. Rather than take Mark up on the offer to work with them directly, the cut off contact until the day of the pre-dawn raid.
The federal government is being sued, as are ten named (or soon-to-be named upon discovery) law enforcement officers involved in the arrest of Mr. Houck.
This writer can’t help but notice how the federal government has shown an affection for such show-of-force arrests when the person being arrested just happens to hold the ‘wrong’ political opinions or allegiances… going all the way up to the Mar-A-Lago raid.
The suit details Mr. Houck’s long history of peaceful pro-Life activism, which has resulted in roughly 100 live births that likely would never have seen the light of day… and has detailed his care for women who were escorted to the nearby pro-life clinic, and in at least one instance, accompanied a young woman to a nearby hospital for follow-up with a medical need. When you think of all the usual markings of a real desparado who must be treated as a dangerous offender, you think of a guy like that, right?
No?
That’s excactly the point his lawyers are making.
The 77-page document his lawyers filed detail the incident in which he was arrested, including the long history the other party has had in violating Planned Parenthood’s own principles governing the conduct of their volunteers. They are NOT allowed to antagonize protesters, but the individual in question has a long record of being disciplined internally for doing exacty that.
As Houck was ALSO working with a reproductive care center, both parties were operating under the protection of the FACE act. By law, neither group is permitted to attack or intimidate the other group. The other party (Mr Love) did not face any charges for his repeated violations.
“Only this time, when Mr. Love saw Mr. Houck talking to the two women and showing them a CWCA brochure, Mr. Love ran nearly 100 feet to where Mr. Houck and the two women were talking. Mr. Houck and the women were located approximately 20 feet from the CWCA entrance.” (Page 15 of the PDF)
In that Love interposed himself between Houck and the women, prevented conversation, and prevented Houck from giving the literature to the women with whom he was speaking, Love, not Houck, was in violation of the FACE act in the first incident mentioned.
The FBI filed no charges in the incident, and despite having plenty of time to collect relevant information, delayed any follow-up long enough that the 30-day security video loop had been recorded over with newer footage. They didn’t take the incident very seriously when Planned Parenthood volunteers were the violators.
In physically obstructing with his body the work of a volunteer in supporting another individual, this was a clear violation of the same statute being used to lock away grandmothers holding prayer vigils outside of abortion mills.
The second incident involved a confrontation in which Love came up to Houck and his son, with no members of the public accessing what the law considers reproductive services or related counseling involved. No services were denied. Clash Daily has described that in greater detail elsewhere. (We’ve also got some stories about lives Mark’s ministry have changed, and cases where Biden’s DOJ recommended ZERO jail time for violent anti-Catholic hate crimes.)
State authories did not charge Houck in the confrontation, as there had been no crime.
“ 24 Activists Claims that SWAT Force Was Used in Arrest at Upper Bucks Home, TheMorning Call (Sept. 27, 2022), https://www.mcall.com/2022/09/27/fbi-denies-anti-abortion-activists-claims-that-swat-force-was-used-in-arrest-at-upper-bucks-home/.
113. The District Attorney’s statement confirms that federal investigative and/or law enforcement officers were aware that Mr.Love’s complaint contained false allegations and that the federal officers, nonetheless, communicated directly with the state authorities about not pursuing the private criminal complaint so the DOJ could pursue a Federal Indictment.
114. Mr. Love did his part and purposely failed to appear for trial. The state court dismissed Mr. Love’s complaint on April 25, 2022, for his failure to appear and prosecute his case.”
Read that last paragraph again. Slowly. The DA was aware that no crime had occurred, that Love had made false allegations against Houck, and the Feds STILL took charge of this case, coordinating with the lower authorities to coordinate making it a federal issue.
When they showed up at his door to arrest him, no warrant was provided. Only an ominous ‘you know why we are here’.
This is a good time to mention the background context of the firebombed pro-life centers and churches that had been firebombed and otherwise vandalized in response to leaked news of how SCOTUS was going to rule on the Dobbs decision… where an organized group of agitators with a name ‘Jane’s Revenge’ was openly threatening acts of escalating violence if they didn’t get their way. But the FBI didn’t prioritize any of that. Under Biden and Merrick Garland, they prioritized this.
The complaint goes on to lay out how the Department of Justice, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta made it clear that it was the position of the DOJ that FACE Act protections extended exclusively to pro-abortion groups, and not to their pro-life counterparts, contrary to explicit language in the statue.
From there, evidence supporting a malicious selective prosecution case is laid out in the remainder of the document. For example:
The FBI targeted Mr. Houck for indictment without probable cause because of his beliefs, his public prayer and speech, and the fact that he is a counselor associated with a crisis pregnancy center.
157. The FBI personnel, including Special Agent Jackson, were all aware of the discriminatory policies and practices surrounding the enforcement of theFACE Act, and that the DOJ was targeting Mr. Houck and protecting Mr. Love inan effort to intimidate and disrupt the activities of pro-life counselors and pregnancy crisis centers.
158. Count I of Mr. Houck’s Indictment, which charged the First Incident, also contained egregious factual errors.
It will only take a couple of instances of law enforcement agents being personally liable in tort law for violations of civil rights before motivated self-interest takes priority over political agendas and law enforcement will refuse to risk their neck to push an agenda like the one Biden is pushing.
For anyone keeping score at home, that’s what a system of checks and balances is supposed to look like. It’s supposed to put an engine retarder brake on the whims of tyrants.
If the enforcement mechanism of the tyrannical will thinks twice before sticking their own neck and livelihood out for some pencil-pushing DC bureaucrat, it’s harder for them to throw their weight around against their political enemies.
As Martha Stewart used to say as her tagline, ‘and that’s a good thing’.
And did we mention that Mark Houck is running for Congress?
70-79, M
