NAMELESS
AND SHAMELESS
HUFFINGTON
10.06.13
TEAM 11 APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN
A NAME GIVEN JUST FOR THAT OPERATION.
OR JUST A NAME TO CONFUSE THEM.
IT WASN’T A DESIGNATION THAT GAVE
THEM ANY MEANINGFUL WAY TO OBTAIN
THE OFFICERS’ IDENTITIES.
each of them claimed, explained
why they were able to recall their
whereabouts so specifically. They
testified that the fact that they
were named in the DEA report
must have been a clerical error.
Attorneys for the Burleys then
deposed other members of Group 6
not named in the DEA report. If indeed the raids had been conducted
simultaneously, and a clerical error
had misidentified which team went
where, then these other members
of the team must have been the
ones in the Burleys’ home. But
they too denied ever being there.
There’s no question that the
Burleys were raided. But every
officer who could have plausibly
been involved claimed to be somewhere else at the time. Deputies
from Wayne County were also part
of the raid team, but each of them
claimed to have been outside of
the house, guarding the perim-
eter. None could recall which
agents were with them, however,
or where their fellow officers were
when the raid took place.
“It’s one of the most bizarre
things I’ve ever seen,” Okoli said.
“I asked, ‘which amongst you
went to one address?’ and they
said they couldn’t remember. So
I asked, ‘which amongst you went
to the other address?’ and they
said they couldn’t remember.”
BECAUSE THEY WAITED until they gave depositions to deny
their presence at the raid, the DEA
agents made things difficult for the
Burleys. Assuming the agents were
telling the truth, the Burleys would
need to start all over in identifying
the agents who raided their house.
And that’s assuming they could get
a waiver on the statute of limitations, which had by then expired.
In June 2012, U.S. District
Court Judge Bernard Friedman
first dismissed the Burleys’ 6