re: #3 Obdicut

1. There might be people there they don’t know about.

All by itself, such an unquantified possibility doesn’t justify deployment of helicopters and APCs. Moreover, the authorities presumably had the compound under surveillance.

2. Any proof for that speculation?

If I had proof, I wouldn’t have expressed the point in question form. Afaic my context was clear.

It remains true that, whatever the prosecution’s intent, the effect of its actions wrt confiscation and requested denial of bail is to make it harder for the Reeses to prepare a defense. The prosecution cannot be unaware of that. If the prosecution presents credible evidence that the Reeses are a serious flight risk, I will adjust my attitude.

3. Why? Do you mean, a lawyer of similar ability, or just a monetary expenditure? Prosecutors are quite cheap for their quality, most of the time, so are you talking equal amounts of money, or what?

I don’t have, and did not claim to have, expertise to formulate detailed remedies. I do have the sense—e.g. via Radley Balko’s work as blogger, Reason Magazine writer, and Huffington Post reporter—that the playing field between the typical citizen, let alone the disadvantaged citizen, and the law enforcement apparatus is tilting to the benefit of the latter.

4. Er— Waco and Ruby Ridge were operational fuckups, but Koresh really was a bastard pulling all sorts of illegal shit, and if federal marshals are telling you to do something, you should do it.

I have no idea why you’re comparing this to those anyway, when they obviously took measures to make sure this didn’t erupt into a firefight. Can you explain?

First they overreached against bastards who were pulling all sorts of illegal shit…

I did not make an explicit comparison between Hoover etc and the Reese case. My point is that with the passage of time I’ve become aware of enough malfeasance or misconduct by law enforcement that I am fundamentally more skeptical about the justice system than I used to be.

5. If indeed the Reeses are guilty, the seriousness of their crime is augmented by the existence of the Drug War.
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wrenchwench, I saw your comment after writing the above, which IMHO addresses most of your points. I consider your remark that “Public defenders can be damn good” to be true but unpersuasive given the severity of the charges.

About #4: WTF? And you can read about Mr. Reese at the link I gave. Then tell me whether you need to hear more from them at this point. They will have their day in court.

And so I had. However, as your update noted, the family had been lured away from the site.
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Whether or not readers agree with me regarding the Reeses, I assert that the playing-field issue, i.e. whether the government’s prosecutorial advantage is growing with time and affecting judicial outcomes, is highly worthy of in-depth study by analysts of the justice system.
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Here’s hoping that future American history does not record something like:

First they overreached on the slimeballs that decent people had no sympathy for. Then they overreached on the wingnuts or moonbats, depending on who was in power. Then…