On August 3, 2011, Circuit Judge Houston L. Brown issued an order mandating the return of all the  electronic bingo machines seized by the State on June 1, 2011 from Greenetrack facilities.

In an 11-page Order Granting Return of Seized Property, Brown pointed out several defects in testimony given by the State’s witnesses.

In this order, Brown noted that Greenetrack had contended that statements and information given to the court were misleading. Brown agreed and  in his order, said that “in light of the testimony presented at the hearing and having reviewed the affidavit and the additional ex parte representations made in chambers by Lt. Gary Michael Reese (the law enforcement agent requesting the warrant), and Desmond Ladner (the state’s gambling expert), it is apparent that the state presented statements which were clearly false, misleading or were made with a reckless disregard for the truth. Once the affidavit’s false material is set to one side, the remaining content is insufficient to establish probable cause. In the absence of probable cause, the search warrant must be voided and the fruits of the search excluded as if probable cause had been lacking on the face of the affidavit.”

Judge Brown cited the video played for him by Reese, which was represented as an accurate depiction of the games in operation at Greenetrack, but was neither accurate nor a fair representation of how the machine operated.

“After watching the video, the Court had serious reservations and expressed the same to Agent Reese as to whether probable cause existed for the issuance of a warrant,” said Reese. “It now appears that the Court’s concern regarding probable cause were well-founded.

“The totality of the circumstances and the demeanor of the officers at the hearing  also indicate that the officers’ presentation and omission of information to this Court was intended to obscure and mislead. The state’s law enforcement tactics in this case amount to seizing first and asking questions later.”

Brown also questioned, in his order, what he called “judge shopping,” which occurred when the State admitted at the hearing that it never approached either of the Greene County Judges – Circuit Judge Eddie Hardaway and District Judge Lillie Jones Osborne – and that the court was not advised that the two locally elected judges had not even been approached about this case – which was an additional reason to set aside the warrant as defective.

Brown ordered that all property seized in the June 1 raid by the State be returned to Greenetrack within 10 days of the date of his order.

Greenetrack CEO Luther “Nat” Winn had this to say:

“Today, the State of Alabama was ordered to return the electronic bingo machines and the property seized from Greenetrack on June 1, 2011. The Alabama Supreme Court appointed a Special Circuit Judge from Jefferson County to consider a search warrant application for the electronic bingo machines in operation in Greene County. Judge Houston Brown found that the law enforcement officer responsible for obtaining the search presented false and misleading statements to him in order to obtain the search warrant. Judge Brown also found that the State’s “expert” witness was not actually qualified under Alabama law to render an opinion in this case. And he determined that the so-called expert misstated facts to obtain the warrant.

“Attorney General Luther Strange and Governor Robert Bentley have repleatedly stated in the press that they wanted a court to decide the issue of electronic bingo in Greene County. Today, a  court has done just that. Will Governor Bentley and Attorney General Strange continue to  deny the people of Greene County their consitutional rights and waste the state’s scarce financial resources or will Governor Bentley and Attorney Strange stand by their promises and follow the court’s unequivocal decision?

“The Constitution gave the citizens of Greene County the right to vote – on their judges. their sheriff, their district attorney and eletronic bingo. At the end of the day, this case is not about bingo, it is about the willingness of those in authority to violate the fundamental rights of the citizens of Greene County. We will wait to see if the Governor and the Attorney General are men of their word.”