Federal agents raid home of death row exoneree on Schofield Barracks

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A Schofield Barracks soldier and her husband, a death row exoneree, say they are being unfairly targeted because of his past.

Honolulu Police SWAT officers busted into the home on Bertram Lane Wednesday night about 8:15 p.m.

"I was in my bed upstairs asleep and out of nowhere I heard what sounded like an explosive going off, and I heard a commotion, people yelling," Isaiah McCoy said.

Federal agents with the U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives followed.

"You come into my house, blow up my door?" McCoy said.

His wife is an Army soldier.  He says she returned home from the grocery store when police surrounded her vehicle, guns drawn.

"I would have let you in if you knocked. My wife would have let you in, she has the key."

The feds had three warrants: to search McCoy, his car, and the home for firearms or ammunition.

McCoy is not allowed to have a gun because he has other convictions prior to the vacated murder case.

Cell phone video Hawaii News Now has obtained shows the couple standing outside the house, as agents searched inside.

"They found nothing.  There was no apologies, they destroyed my house. Went through my belongings, my wife's belongings, my daughters belongings and completely disrespected my residence," McCoy said.

McCoy was not arrested. No weapons were found. But after the police and federal agents left, Army investigators say they found drug paraphernalia inside the home but wouldn't tell the couple where it was found or what it was.

McCoy's wife was taken to the barracks and he hasn't been able to see her or talk to her.

Then McCoy was trespassed from the base, meaning he is not allowed back onto the property or to the home.

"Rather than take responsibility and say, 'look we made a mistake Mr. McCoy.  We want to apologize to you and your wife,' no, instead they're like get off base."

McCoy was sentenced to die in 2012, for a murder on the East Coast. That conviction was overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct, and early this year, he was released.

McCoy was on Hawaii News Now in September, defending his friend Jordan Smith, who is charged with a Waikiki shooting that killed 22-year old Maleko Remlinger and injured two others.

Since that television interview, McCoy says the military and law enforcement have been harassing them.

The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on the raid.

McCoy says he will have to sleep at a hotel for now, he also hasn't been able to retrieve his belongings from the home.

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