Just before 6 a.m. on 19 December 2013, eight or nine Burleson County officers entered the rural trailer of Henry Goedrich Magee near Somerville, about 90 miles northwest of Houston, to execute a search warrant for guns and marijuana.[1][2] The officers entered without knocking, and Magee, believing he and his pregnant girlfriend were being robbed, opened fire and killed Sgt. Adam Sowders, a recently promoted sergeant-investigator and Somerville native.[1][2]
Magee told investigators he did not know the intruders were peace officers, and his lawyer Dick DeGuerin said he had defended himself, his girlfriend and his home as many people would have done.[1][2] DeGuerin acknowledged his client had a small number of marijuana plants and seedlings, plus guns he owned legally.[1]
In February 2014 a Burleson County grand jury declined to indict Magee for capital murder, accepting that he acted in self-defence, but indicted him for possessing marijuana while in possession of a deadly weapon.[1][2] District attorney Julie Renken said she believed the sheriff’s office acted correctly in chaos lasting seconds and that an announcement was made, but that there was not enough evidence Magee knew officers were entering his home.[2]