Kanawha County Deputies Want Out Of Lawsuit

{West Virginia}...Kanawha County attorneys argued Friday that a lawsuit brought by Sandra Shaffer related to the investigation of the 2003 sniper shootings should be dismissed. Shaffer sued the city of Charleston, Kanawha County, a city police officer, a county employee and several unnamed defendants, claiming her home was destroyed this spring when Charleston Police brought in heavy machinery to dig on her Sissonville property for evidence in the sniper case. Johnnie Brown, an attorney representing Kanawha County in the case, says Kanawha County deputy sheriffs simply provided security while the police department followed a court order to search the site. Richelle Garlow, one of Shaffer’s attorneys, says, "There's a duty for a police officer not to stand idly by and watch someone's constitutional rights get violated." County attorneys say police found meth-making materials at Shaffer's home along with piles of trash and raw sewage running into the open woods, and it needed to be condemned. Mike Clifford, one of Shaffer’s attorneys, says he hopes the city or county will do the right thing and replaces Shaffer’s double-wide.