Constitutional Defenses:
-Nick's defense should be based on the constitutionality of the search warrant and the arrest.
-1st amendment violation:
---Pastor's report should have only caused a wellness check, not a search warrant.
---Week delay in search is suspicious.
---Mandatory reporting is bad, because it removes pastor/therapist confidentiality.
---Barnes asserts that the raid was retaliation for Nick's criticism of Judge Fischer and the prosecutors.
---He also claims that Nick has previously exposed the local police for corruption.
---This was an opportunity to go after the county's biggest critic.
-2nd amendment violation:
---Why is there a gun charge? He should be allowed to own a gun, and it was in his bedroom not with the kids.
---Bail requirement of confiscating guns should be unconstitutional.
---Guns should only be taken if you use them while on drugs, not simply possessing them.
---The gun charge and the underlying law itself is unconstitutional.
-4th amendment violation:
---Drug testing violates the 4th amendment.
---Shouldn't be able to get a search warrant, remove the kids, remove guns, just because they found "something" in the search.
---A search based on an anonymous report, hearsay (the priest's report) should not be performed. It's the same thing as swatting.
---Search warrants should only be performed against drug dealers.
-5th amendment violation:
---The child neglect charges should be unconstitutional.
---Drugs should not be illegal, and parents should have the right to decide if drugs are around their kids.
---Having/using drugs around children is not harm by itself.
---No one witnessed anything bad happen to the kids except that the house was messy.
-6th amendment violation:
---The jail not allowing Nick to see his clients while he was under arrest is a violation of the right to an attorney.
---That Nick wasn't told immediately that April was released is a very bad look for the court.
-8th amendment violation:
---Confiscation of guns should not be a condition of bail, it's excessive and also violates 2nd amendment.
---Bail itself should be unconstitutional.