In June 2015, a man suspected of stealing two belts and a shirt from Walmart fled from police and barricaded himself inside a total stranger’s home in a Denver suburb. During a 19-hour standoff with the armed suspect, police drove an armored vehicle through the doors of the house; tore out nearly every window; used explosives to blow out the walls; and fired tear gas, 40-millimeter rounds, and flash-bang grenades inside.

They apprehended the shoplifter but left the home, owned by Leo Lech, utterly destroyed. What’s worse, though the Lech family was completely innocent, the government refused to compensate them for the loss of their property. Leo went to court to vindicate his rights and received a decision in October from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: You lose.

According to the court, if the government needs to destroy your home to build a freeway or a courthouse, the Constitution entitles you to just compensation. If the government blows the walls out of your home while pursuing a suspect? You get nothing.

But the Constitution was designed to ensure that the government cannot arbitrarily single out private citizens to bear the costs of government actions. That’s why IJ is determined to see the 10th Circuit’s decision overturned.

We took Leo’s case and have already filed for rehearing at the 10th Circuit. From there, the next likely stop is the U.S. Supreme Court. We won’t rest until we vindicate the principle that if the government destroys someone’s property in order to benefit the public as a whole, then it is the public, not an innocent property owner, that must pay for that benefit. That’s true whether the officials doing the destroying are the local school board or the local police department.

You can read more about the Lechs’ story—and see pictures of their home after the standoff—in this piece from NPR and in IJ’s press release. I will of course keep you closely apprised of developments in this case and the 59 others we’re currently litigating throughout the country. In the meantime, please make a donation today to help us fight these essential battles for the Constitution.

Scott

Scott G. Bullock
President and General Counsel
Institute for Justice

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