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Friday, May 9th, 2008Arthur Tesler is the only officer involved in the Atlanta drug raid that killed 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston to fight the charges against him. The testimony to so far come out of his trial really only confirms what we knew about the narcotics division at Atlanta PD from the federal investigation into Johnston’s death, but it’s still pretty striking stuff:
A former Atlanta police officer testified Thursday that narcotics officers routinely lied under oath when seeking search warrants, a practice that led to police killing a 92-year-old woman.
Former Detective Gregg Junnier told a Fulton County jury that detectives would tell judges that they had verified their informants had bought cocaine from dealers by searching them for drugs before the buy took place.
"I have never seen anyone searched before they go into the house, I’ve never seen that done, even though officers always swear to it," Junnier said. "It’s done that way in 90 percent of the warrants that are written."
But it wasn’t just lies to get the warrant to search Kathryn Johnston’s home that made Junnier uneasy, he said. He had an inkling something was wrong when he and Officer Jason R. Smith were leading the narcotics team to the front door. He said the northwest Atlanta house differed from the informant’s description.
"I said, ‘Man, this doesn’t look right,’ and he said, ‘I know,’ " Junnier testified. " ‘I said what do you want to do.’ He said, ‘Hit it.’"
A minute later, Johnston was lying on her floor, dying.
[...]
He said the chance to seize a kilo (2.2 pounds) of cocaine also drove the officers, who normally made arrests for much smaller amounts.
In the raid, police fired 39 shots. Junnier was shot in the face, chest and leg. Two other officers were also wounded. Investigators determined Johnston had fired one round from a revolver; the officers were shot in their own crossfire.
Junnier described entering Johnston’s house: "She was still alive. She was gasping for air. I heard … the order to cuff her."
Later that day, he said, the cover-up began.
It would be pretty näive to think these kinds of shortcuts only happen in Atlanta.
Am I the only one who thinks this is a fragment of a post?
Sorry — fixed.
Going through the Overkill map today with my seniors, one of them said: “Why don’t they just take all these crazy SWAT team guys who like to shoot people and send them to Iraq where they might do some good?”
Greg N.,
Because taking a trigger-happy approach in Iraq will actually make our problems there worse.
Besides that, UCrawford, if you were to send guys like the three from Atlanta over there, they’d promptly shoot each other every time somebody fired a round into the air…and that happens a lot in that part of the world.
Greg N.,
Don’t mistake their ability to shoot American citizens as evidence of bravery. A bully is a coward to the core.
I can’t comment on this. I need a little time to calm down first. A couple of years should be enough.
Why officers lie? Why they never search before going into the house? What type of “Code of Conduct” is this?” But they do swear that they performed their duties within the ambit of Law. It is very very sad to hear such incidents.
______
George
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Someone needs to send a copy of the transcript of this trial to that douchebag Scalia so he can see how that “new professionalism” is working out.
Radley: were you the one who posted a story in relation to this case about how the Atlanta mayor called for a citizen’s review board after this event, only to find out that the city already had one? Do you know anything about how the review board functions in Atlanta or more generally?
Atlanta Citizens Review Board
http://www.atlantaga.gov/media/medadv_civilreview_120606.aspx