Drug WarRant

[DdC]

Anger Spills Over in Atlanta at Killing of Woman
By Shaila Dewan and Brenda Goodman 
CN Source: New York Times November 28, 2006 Atlanta  

At the packed Lindsey Street Baptist Church, a man in a three-piece suit approached a microphone Tuesday night and began to preach to the man in the pulpit. “You say you’re going to come in and clean up the neighborhood,” he said. “But there’s a difference between cleaning up and cleaning out.”

The patient object of this lecture, and others that followed, was the police chief, Richard J. Pennington, who had come to a community meeting to face an angry crowd a week after three of his narcotics officers shot an elderly woman to death at her home.

The shooting, in a black neighborhood tormented by crime, has touched off outrage at the police, especially after a confidential informant came forward Monday and said that after the killing, officers instructed him to lie by saying he had bought drugs at the home of the woman, Kathryn Johnston.

At a demonstration Tuesday called by the New Black Panther Party, protesters stormed police barricades in front of Ms. Johnston’s house. And at the church, filled with some 400 people, critics demanded that the officers involved be arrested.

Placards mocked the fact that they, along with five other members of their narcotics investigation team, had been given administrative leave but would still receive their salaries: “Kill a black citizen and get paid.”

Such scenes might be more common in cities where a police shooting can easily shred the carefully woven strands of race, authority, force and order. But it was unusual for Atlanta, with its relative racial harmony.

Although the Police Department’s record is not unblemished, there has not been a string of high-profile shootings, nor anything to rival the killing of Amadou Diallo in New York or the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles.

Further, the department is racially balanced — of the three investigators who knocked on Ms. Johnston’s door, two were white and one was black — and is led by a black man.

The family of Ms. Johnston, whose funeral was held Tuesday in neighboring East Point, Ga., has said she lived alone. But the three officers were executing a search warrant that said an informant had purchased crack from a man at her address. The police had obtained a no-knock warrant, allowing them to enter without first announcing themselves, so as to prevent the disposal of evidence.

They cut the burglar bars, forced open the door and then identified themselves as officers.

But Ms. Johnston, 88, was already at the door with a revolver, which neighbors later said she had kept for protection. She shot all three officers before she fell in a hail of gunfire.

On Monday, the informant said in an interview with Fox News that he had never been to the house and had been asked after the shooting to lie about having bought crack there. The police, on the other hand, say they have two bags of crack bought by the informant before the warrant was served, and three bags of marijuana recovered at the house after the shooting.

The president of the police union said Tuesday that the informant had lied in the Fox interview to avoid entanglement.

Whatever the case, the rage here appears to be less about the Atlanta police than about a general perception that the justice system is unfair to blacks and cannot be trusted to protect them.

“This is nothing new; this is not an isolated incident,” said the Rev. Anthony Motley, the pastor of the church. “We are experiencing a wave of police violence across this nation, and Kathryn Johnston is another victim of that violence.”

Others said many people in Atlanta felt violated by the police even if the results were not frequently fatal. “Below the surface there’s some rage in people always when it comes to perceptions of the police,” said Clarence T. Martin, a member of the City Council who is vice chairman of its Public Safety Committee.

Chief Pennington has sought to take the edge off by declining to defend his department and by asking for the F.B.I. investigation that the bureau has now undertaken.

And for this he has earned praise. On Tuesday night, when the crowd at the church grew unruly, Mr. Motley, the pastor, appealed for calm, saying: “We’re all family. I want you to say amen.”

Those present replied, “Amen.”

“The chief has taken a pretty good beating,” the pastor told them. “I like what the chief has done so far.”

Complete Title: Anger Spills Over in Atlanta at Killing of Aged Woman

Contact: letters@nytimes.com * Website

92-year-old woman killed by Georgia officers
Officials say woman wounded three officers; may be mistaken-identity case


AP: Kathryn Johnston's family released this photo of her. According to police, narcotics officers were justified in returning fire on Johnston, who was shot to death Tuesday after she wounded three officers serving a warrant at her Atlanta home.

92-year-old killed in 'roughest neighborhood in Georgia' - CNN.com

• 92-year-old woman shot dead in Atlanta home by police
• Police were serving search warrant for drugs at slain woman's home
• Police say she opened fire, wounding three officers who survived
• Neighbors say woman lived in crime-ridden neighborhood; family outraged

The Ganjawar Fraud...

THE POLICE STATE COMETH by Rep Ron Paul
The Congressional Record (House) June 25, 1997

The Narco-State Cometh Mar 20, 2002
This is part I in series "Drugs, Oil, Lies & Tyranny"



Atlanta Police To Review 'No-Knock' Policy
CN Source: Associated Press November 27, 2006 Georgia 

Atlanta's police chief said his department will review its policy after an elderly woman was killed in a shootout with plainclothes officers.

Police Chief Richard Pennington's comments on the incident were the first since Kathryn Johnston was killed Tuesday night after she shot three narcotics officers who were serving a warrant at her home. The chief was out of town last week for Thanksgiving holiday and said he was unable to get a flight back to Atlanta sooner.

The officers entered the home looking for cocaine based on tips from an informant for which they received a "no-knock" warrant, according to the search warrant released Monday. Police frequently use "no-knock" warrants to get inside a home before suspects have a chance to get rid of any drugs or other contraband.

Pennington said his department will review its policy on "no-knock" warrants and its use of confidential informants.

After the shooting officers found marijuana inside the northwest Atlanta home, but "not a large quantity," Pennington said Sunday.

The Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office also reported Sunday that records show Johnston was 88, despite her family saying she was 92.

Pennington was scheduled to hold a news conference later Monday to disclose details from the shooting, said police spokesman Officer Joe Cobb. The incident remains under internal review by the police department, which prevents the chief from talking about many aspects of the case, he said.

Johnston was described by neighbors and family as a woman who lived in fear in Vine City — a northwest Atlanta neighborhood in the shadow of the Georgia Dome sports stadium.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into the incident at the request of the Fulton County District Attorney's Office.

The Rev. Markel Hutchins, a civil rights activist, has called for a federal investigation into the incident.

The three officers were released from the hospital last week and are on leave with pay. Funeral plans for Johnston have not been made.

CannabisNews Justice Archives



Huge news in the Kathryn Johnston Case
At The Agitator
Chief Pennington has suspended seven narcotics officers and asked the FBI to investigate.

Apparently the confidential informant is saying he never purchased drugs at Kathryn Johnston's address and was told by police to lie about it.

Kathryn Johnston is still dead.



Kathryn Johnston
Sunday, November 26, 2006

I was getting ready to leave for the holiday on last Wednesday morning when I got wind of the story Tuesday night. No time to do it justice. Now, at this point, Radley Balko -- whom I've often characterized as the world's most important blogger -- has done so much legwork that's it's pointless to do anything but provide you with a bunch of links to his entries.

Essentially, a 92-year-old woman living in Atlanta, GA, had her house broken into in the middle of the night by several armed men. Though she got off five shots in her attempt to defend herself and her home from whatever terror she was able to surmise in a spit-second, and all five shots connected, the 90 to 100 shots fired by the intruders killed her.

For more details, here's a roundup.

1. Radley's initial entry.

2. News link, with links to related stories and video. In particular, check out the video reaction of neighbors, which I note goes off quite differently than when police gun down some predatory thug who happens to be black and the race-baiters come flying out of the woodwork.

3. Radley's fist update. Still not a lot of specific details.

4. Summation of the press conference by the Atlanta Police. Unsurprisingly, any facts even remotely germane to rendering a judgment as to the propriety of the police actions are "under investigation." Those facts won't be released until this story is an old memory that only a few remember.

5. The police begin covering their asses, as usual. And why not? After all, when a lone cop or small group engage in illegal activities such as dealing drugs or being on the take, it's fairly common for that to be exposed and prosecuted by other police. But when far worse actions by police -- like massive assault raids leading to murder -- occur, they are a consequence of policy, and that, people, is never exposed or prosecuted by police. Never. Radley raises a whole host of other questions and addresses neighbor reaction.

6. Radley must again deal with the likes of conservative (you can say that, again) police-apologist and authoritarian sycophant Patterico, a Los Angeles County prosecutor. Nothing surprising. Just as above, Patterico would find it easy to condemn the same actions if they were carried out by cops acting alone. But what happened is a matter of police and prosecutorial routine, and that must always be protected. It's a livelihood -- a just-doing-my-job -- for far too many to allow the life of a mere 92-year-old black woman to call into question the very foundations of such an empire. After all, these guys have pensions and 401Ks, don't you know?

7. More Patterico....

8. Yea, where are the pictures of the G.I. Joe clad "drug warriors" standing behind the fruits of their bust?

9. Well I don't suppose you can blame them. Everything calls for a "federal investigation," nowadays. Most typically, it's the feds calling for a federal investigation. Investigations are great for "officials" at all levels, because, you know, they "can't comment" on an ongoing one. By the time it's done, it's ancient history. Pretty convenient device, eh?

10. Legally, you're screwed. All of you.

11. Of course, this sort of thing is just an "isolated incident."

12. Oops, another "isolated incident, just another unfortunate cost of war.

No need to concern yourselves, though. I mean, how can anyone really complain, and what are the odds, anyway? She got 92 good years on the planet. What's everyone so excited about? The cops were just doing their job.

How ironic, that in the year of Kathryn Johnston's birth, in 1914, a law would be passed that would ultimately serve as her death warrant 92 years later as a "civilian casualty."

Google: Kathryn Johnston



Context for Kathryn Johnston
Radley has an outstanding (and horrifying -- even though I've read about all those cases before, it still hurts) piece putting the Johnston story in perspective, with examples from other bad raids.

People like Maye and Johnston are supposed to show remarkable poise and judgment, despite the fact that armed men are breaking into their homes..

When police make mistakes, however, they're nearly always forgiven. Because we're supposed to understand how an officer in such a volatile situation might misjudge an everyday object for a gun, or shoot a completely innocent, unarmed man -- all perfectly understandable, given the volatile, confrontational circumstances surrounding SWAT raids. Such deaths -- while tragic -- are mere collateral damage.

We have to keep fighting the war on drugs. And we have to protect our police officers by allowing them to break down doors while people are sleeping. The deaths of a few innocent people are the price we pay for the privilege of having the government tell us what we are and aren't allowed to put into our bodies.

It's an abhorrent double standard.

Read the whole thing.
Now I know that some people around the web are chiding people like us for jumping on the story too quickly -- that we don't know all the facts yet, so how can we possibly claim that a tragedy occurred in the Katrhyn Johnston case?

It's possible that she was a 92-year-old drug dealing kingpin (and they just didn't happen to find anything at her place). Maybe she was letting her house be used by drug dealers. Maybe she had created an elaborate hidden identity during the decades she lived in that house. Who knows? I don't. And I don't care. Because it just doesn't matter.

When the shooting happened is not when things went wrong.

As Atlanta's photodude says:
But I do know this. No violent crime had been committed or observed to obtain this warrant. There was no evidence of anyone in the home being held against their will. The circumstances seemed to contain no imminent danger ... whatsoever.

And that's the point that Radley has to keep repeating to the dimwitted apologists for our drug war. They just don't seem to get the fact that it is the policy that is completely and insanely out of control. The calamitous policy that says that it is somehow appropriate to use military home invasion techniques for drug charges.
To use armed invasion as a sanctioned method to arrest someone for marijuana offenses is as insane as if we had police fire rocket propelled grenades at cars exceeding the speed limit.

Citizens Against Police Abuse (CAPA)
The mission of CAPA is to effectively use the democratic process to stop police abuse and other forms of criminal injustice. Our mission will be accomplished when the highest standards of human rights, public safety and professional ethics become sustainable realities within the entire justice system.

Glossing Over Mistreatment in The Magbie Case
A Drug Warmongers Toll on the Americas
November.org



Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > Kathryn Johnston

Woman, 92, in shootout with police
(AP) Updated: 2006-11-23 05:50
ATLANTA - Many people on the rundown northwest Atlanta street where Kathryn Johnston lived fortify their windows with metal bars and arm themselves for protection.

Drug Czar funds grandma-killing?
So is the staff of the ONDCP daft, stupid, or just plain incompetent?
How else do you explain the fact that

1. On Wednesday, the Drug Czar's "blog" brags that...
2. On Monday, the Drug Czar presented a check for $1.1 million to the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program in the Atlanta area, where
3. On Tuesday, a drug raid ended with a 92-year-old lady shot to death, about which everyone is talking.

Do they not have the capability of... literacy?

Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America by Radley Balko
White Paper July 17, 2006

Radley Balko is a policy analyst specializing in civil liberties issues and is the author of the Cato study, "Back Door to Prohibition: The New War on Social Drinking."

Executive Summary
Americans have long maintained that a man’s home is his castle and that he has the right to defend it from unlawful intruders. Unfortunately, that right may be disappearing. Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.

These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects.

This paper presents a history and overview of the issue of paramilitary drug raids, provides an extensive catalogue of abuses and mistaken raids, and offers recommendations for reform.
 
Botched Paramilitary Police Raids: An Interactive Map



Katherine Johnston, 92, Drug War Victim
Tuesday, November 21, 2006

It just never stops...

ATLANTA -- Three Atlanta police officers were shot and wounded and an elderly woman killed at a house in northwest Atlanta Tuesday night.

The woman, who relatives say was 92-years-old, opened fire on the officers from the narcotics division at a house at 933 Neal Street, according to officials. Authorities say they received a tip of drug activity taking place at the home and officers were headed to the house with a search warrant.

Relatives identified the elderly woman as Katherine Johnston.

The woman's niece, Sarah Dozier, says that she bought her aunt a gun to protect herself and that her aunt had a permit for the gun. Relatives believe Johnston was frightened by the officers and opened fire.

"They kicked her door down talking about drugs, there's no drugs in that house. And they realize now, they've got the wrong house," Dozier said. "I'm mad as hell." Officials say they had the correct house and that the warrant they had was legal.
No politicians were harmed in the gunfire.

More and a discussion .
Update: More at TalkLeft, and Radley caught the Press Conference.

Reefer Madness the Burning of Rainbow farm
Target DEAth Merchants
Drug War Police Tactics Endanger Innocent Citizens
Journey for Justice Pedaling for Pot

[DdC]

War on Drugs Needs New Strategy By Andrew Muchmore
CN Source: Red and Black November 29, 2006 Georgia

Georgia -- Just a few days ago, three Atlanta police officers shot down and killed a 92 year-old woman in her home while executing a search warrant.

The frightened elderly woman lived alone in a high- crime neighborhood and had burglar bars on all her doors and windows. When the officers attempted to batter down her door, she fired on them and was killed when the officers returned fire.

What is most disturbing about this is that the officers were apparently following standard procedure, in which the homes of suspected non-violent drug offenders are routinely broken into by armed police officers or SWAT teams without knocking or identifying themselves first.

There has been a strong movement towards the increased use of highly confrontational police tactics and the militarization of civilian police forces in the 25 years since the war on drugs began.

The annual number of SWAT deployments has surged from 3,000 to 40,000 in that time. Tactics once reserved for only the most dangerous criminals are now used regularly in the execution of routine search warrants.

Though the use of warrants was limited by the 1995 Supreme Court decision Wilson v. Arkansas, they are still permissible under an array of exigent circumstances which are arguably present in most cases.

Since President Reagan announced the war on drugs in the early 80s, federal and state spending on drug enforcement and incarceration has grown to more than $75 billion per year.

Roughly half of our prison cells and a similar proportion of our judicial resources are consumed by drug enforcement.

The American prison population has ballooned to more than two million incarcerated citizens, making it the largest in the world in both absolute and per capita terms, and more than four times larger per capita than any Western European democracy.

During this time the rate of drug arrests has increased rather than decreased, by a factor of three.
The exigencies of our perpetual drug war have led to an erosion of our civil liberties and have undermined respect for the rule of law.

The fear and distrust of police, which has become endemic among younger and less affluent Americans is a direct result of the diversion of police resources from the protection of the citizenry to the enforcement of morals.

The police officers wounded or killed as a result of the drug war are victims just as the innocent civilians. One need not adhere to a Millian conception of liberty in which the rights of the individual may only be restricted to protect the rights of others.

It is only necessary to rationally assess the costs and benefits of our current drug policy to come to the conclusion that it has been an abject failure.

This may be the approach most likely to lead to re-election, but addiction treatment, education and the creation of economic opportunity are much more effective at combating drug usage than Gestapo-style tactics.

How many lives and liberties are we willing to sacrifice for a solution which has only compounded the problem it sought to solve?

Andrew Muchmore is a second-year law student from New Orleans.

Website * Contact

"Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing"

"... the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."
Federal Bureau of Narcotics Chief Harry J. Anslinger, 1948

Not To Be Minimized by J. Edgar Hoover
"I am surprised to learn that certain police officers
have been inclined to minimize the effects of the use of marihuana.
These officers should review some of the cases that are reported to the Bureau.
They would, I am sure, be convinced that the drug is adhering to its old world
traditions of murder, assault, rape, physical demoralization and mental breakdown.
A study of the effects of marihuana shows clearly that it is a dangerous drug,
and Bureau records prove that its use is associated with insanity and crime.
Therefore, from the standpoint of police work,
it is  "A More Dangerous Drug Than Heroin or Cocaine."
Hoover was the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

With such a mindset continuing to drive the Ganjawar,
it's inevitable that innocent people will be slaughtered,
and written off as collateral damage.
DdC

[DdC]

Misguided drug war...
DWR: Saturday, December 2, 2006

Outstanding opinion piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution by Cynthia Tucker (the editorial page editor): Misguided drug war claims another victim

[DdC]

Friday, January 12, 2007
New York Times covers Kathryn Johnston fiasco
This is getting some important visibility, although this article fails to indicate that the problem extends well beyond the Atlanta police force.

ATLANTA -- A narcotics team that shot and killed an elderly woman while raiding her home lied to obtain the search warrant, one team member has told federal investigators, according to news reports confirmed by a person familiar with the investigation who requested anonymity.

The officers falsely claimed that a confidential informant had bought $50 worth of crack at the house, the team member, Gregg Junnier, told the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Junnier retired from the Atlanta Police Department last week.

The story backs up statements by Alex White, a police informant, who said that after the shooting the police had asked him to claim, falsely, that he had bought crack at the modest home of the woman, Kathryn Johnston, whose age has been reported as both 88 and 92.

Ms. Johnston, pictured wearing a birthday crown in a widely used photograph, quickly became Exhibit A for complaints of excessive force by the police, prompting packed, angry town-hall-style meetings, accusations of systematic civil rights violations and calls for civilian review of police shootings in Atlanta.

The incident has also demoralized a police force where the number of narcotics officers has dwindled while, some critics say, pressure to make arrests has increased.

"The rest of the world is now hearing from the mouths of the police officers involved what we knew all along," said the Rev. Markel Hutchins, a spokesman for Ms. Johnston's relatives, who have maintained that she had nothing to do with illegal drugs and that neither her house nor her basement, which had a separate entrance, was used by dealers.

This story resonates because it really includes so many of the failings of the drug war wrapped up in one incident.

* Reliance on unreliable snitch looking to make a deal
* An overabundant credulity that the resident of the house was a drug dealer
* A lack of respect by police towards citizens (particularly in certain... neighborhoods) resulting in action without proper investigation
* Policy emphasis on showing results through numbers of drug busts
* Police taking short-cuts with the law
* Judge rubber-stamping a warrant
* Bad policy demanding the use of inappropriate force for the type of arrest
* The impossible situation placed on citizens between defending themselves and "trusting" the people who are breaking down their door.
* Increased danger for police officers
* An innocent person dying
* Police cover-up when something goes wrong

Oh! What a Lovely War



Drug War Chronicle
Here's this week's issue. Drug War Chronicle - Issue #468 - 1/12/07

* Editorial: Newark Deserves Better From Its Leaders
* Feature: More Cops Died Directing Traffic Than Waging the Drug War Last Year
* Law Enforcement: DEA Lax on Handling Seized Cash, Audit Finds
* Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
* Law Enforcement: Faced With Rising Murder Rates, Newark and New Orleans Turn to Repressive Drug War Strategies
* Law Enforcement: Small-Time Drug Possessors No Longer Charged as Felons in Wichita -- Cops Grumble
* Law Enforcement: Woman Arrested Over Flour-Filled Condom Wins $180,000 in Suit Settlement
* Medical Marijuana: Colorado Case Will Test State's Law
* Newsbrief: White House Announces Dates, Locations for 2007 Regional Student Drug Testing Summits
* Latin America: Mexico Considering Creation of "Drug Czar" Post
* Europe: European Union Funds Dialogue With Civil Society on Drug Policies
* Weekly: This Week in History
* Web Scan
* Announcement: DRCNet Content Syndication Feeds Now Available for YOUR Web Site!
* Announcement: DRCNet RSS Feeds Now Available
* Job Listing: Outreach Director Position Available at Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Washington, DC
* Job Listing: Program Coordinator, Public Health Program, OSI-Budapest
* Announcement: New Format for the Reformer's Calendar

[DdC]

Monday, January 29, 2007
Drug War Victim: 80-year-old Isaac Singletary

Another old person with a gun, living in a dangerous neighborhood. 80-year-old Isaac Singletary used to bring out his gun to scare off drug dealers, so when a saw a couple of low-lifes were on his lawn, he came out with it again and told them to get off his property. Except they were undercover narcotics officers so they shot him. Isaac managed to get a shot or two off in response, but the officers were able to finish him off.

See also The Agitator and the comments from Mary, Kaptinemo and Allan in this earlier thread.


Drug War Victim: 80-year-old Isaac Singletary

January 29, 2007
Another Damned Drug War Death

Add 81-year-old Isaac Singletary to your list of wrongful drug war victims.
Police were apparently conducting undercover drug investigation when Singletary asked them to leave his property. They didn't. So he asked again, this time with a handgun.
And that was the end of Isaac Singletary.

Whether or not he had reason to know the men on his lawn were police is still under investigation. It seems unlikely. The officers were undercover. And neighbors and relatives say Singletary was protective of his property precisely because of the drug activity in the area.

It's the third shooting involving the Jacksonville, Fla. sheriff's office in three weeks, causing local state's attorney Harry Shorstein to ponder, "If we're just selling drugs to addicts, I don't know what we're accomplishing."

Over to you, John Hawkins.

Armed 80-Year-Old Man Shot, Killed By Undercover Officers

More responses to the John Hawkins piece

One thing I'll say about about John Hawkins piece In Defense of the Drug War at Right Wing News -- it's drawn a tremendous amount of fire from the libertarian and conservative (read: not authoritarian) circles (it's less likely that many of the liberal sites have noticed it).

Read this exceptional and insightful analysis by Lee at Right-Thinking from the Left Coast: My response to In Defense of the Drug War.

Also, a couple of nice pieces at Code Monkey Ramblings (here and here ).

Also, Mona has a little good fun at my expense at Unqualified Offerings and JohnJ over at RightLinx responds to me both in his post and in comments.

(In addition to the ones I listed below).


Page Design: Danyl Strype

[DdC]

Caption contest Story at The Agitator.

Felony Murder charges to be filed against Kathryn Johnston's killers
According to WSBTV in Atlanta:
ATLANTA -- Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard plans to ask a grand jury to consider murder charges against three Atlanta police officers.

The big news is not only the notice of the indictment itself, but also an FBI [official] indicated to Channel 2's Mark Winne that the action by the Fulton County D.A.'s Office came without any notice to either the FBI or U.S. Attorney's Office. The official suggested the FBI investigation has not been completed and the FBI had not been notified of what he indicated was a unilateral action taken by the District Attorney.

I'm not sure what it means that the DA is acting separately from the federal investigation, but ultimately I would expect hope to see these officers tried for felony murder. If the apparent facts hold up and the officers lied to get a warrant, and then broke into Kathryn Johnston's home based on that warrant and killed her in her home (regardless of her self-defense actions), then what other conclusion can you reach?

Drugwar Victim Kathryn Johnston, 92 - R.I.P.
Anger Spills Over at Killing of Kathryn Johnston

Drug War Chronicle - Issue #472 - 2/9/07
* This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
* Atlanta NAACP Calls for Tight Restrictions on "No-Knock" Searches

Drug War Victims
"Our drug war results in staggeringly tragic losses.
Drugs, when abused, can be dangerous,
but they are not nearly as lethal as the drug war itself."
Pete Guither Drug WarRant

[DdC]

The story of Kathryn Johnston's death
DrugWarRant: Saturday, April 28, 2007
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which has been doing an excellent job of coverage, has the timeline of the actual events that led to the death of Kathryn Johnston

They fabricated all the right answers to persuade a magistrate to give them a no-knock search warrant.

By 6 p.m., they had the legal document they needed to break into Kathryn Johnston's house, and within 40 minutes they were prying off the burglar bars and using a ram to burst through the elderly woman's front door. It took about two minutes to get inside, which gave Johnston time to retrieve her rusty .38 revolver.

Tesler was at the back door when Junnier, Smith and the other narcotics officers crashed through the front.

Johnston got off one shot, the bullet missing her target and hitting a porch roof. The three narcotics officers answered with 39 bullets.

Five or six bullets hit the terrified woman. Authorities never figured out who fired the fatal bullet, the one that hit Johnston in the chest. Some pieces of the other bullets -- friendly fire -- hit Junnier and two other cops.

The officers handcuffed the mortally wounded woman and searched the house.

There was no Sam.
There were no drugs.
There were no cameras that the officers had claimed was the reason for the no-knock warrant.

Just Johnston, handcuffed and bleeding on her living room floor.

That is when the officers took it to another level. Three baggies of marijuana were retrieved from the trunk of the car and planted in Johnston's basement. The rest of the pot from the trunk was dropped down a sewage drain and disappeared.

The three began getting their stories straight. [...]

Read the whole thing. It's really quite horrifying



Some of Kathryn Johnston's murderers indicted
New York Times Thursday, April 26, 2007

A Fulton County grand jury has indicted three current and former police officers who were involved in botched drug raid that led to the death of an elderly Atlanta woman in November.
Officer Jason R. Smith, who is on administrative leave from the Atlanta Police Department and Gregg Junnier, who retired from the force in January, face the most serious charges.

Mr. Smith is charged with four counts of murder, two counts of making false statements, two counts of burglary, violation of oath by a public officer, criminal solicitation, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment under color of legal process and perjury.

Mr. Junnier is charged with three counts of murder, two counts of burglary, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, violation of oath by a public officer, criminal solicitation and making false statements.

Officer Arthur Tesler, who is also on administrative leave, is charged with violation of oath by a public officer, making false statements and false imprisonment under color of legal process.

No indictments, however, against the people who created the policies and procedures that set up the tragedy.

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
Drug War Chronicle #483, 4/27/07

Three police officers and a prison guard arrested, and another prison guard gets sent to prison. Once again, we present the corrosive impact of the drug war on police ethics and morality in all its mundane banality.

[DdC]

Seize This! By Steve Sebelius
CN Source: Las Vegas City Life September 27, 2005 Nevada  
Both the Las Vegas Sun and the Review-Journal jumped all over Dave Olsen, city attorney of sleepy Boulder City, when he filed a lawsuit to seize the home of Cynthia Warren.

Boulder City police, ably assisted by the SWAT team from nearby Henderson, stormed Warren's home in April to discover six marijuana plants and various and sundry marijuana-related paraphernalia inside. She was arrested, charged with several felonies, and ultimately pled no contest to possession of a controlled substance. But before she entered her plea, Olsen filed a lawsuit to seize her house, valued at around $400,000, contending it was part of the instrumentality of her crime.

"In the drug world, this thing is probably nothing. But in a town of 15,000 people where we have one or two children die every year because of controlled substances, it is a big deal to us," Olsen told the R-J. To the Sun, he added: "The best way to send a message to folks that drug distribution to young people won't be tolerated is to take away their house. This gets their attention. We're sending a message loud and clear that if you package and distribute drugs from your house, you lose your home. Hopefully, it will act as a deterrent."
Continued...cannabisnews/21144

Asset Forfeiture Abuse
Misdemeanor Charge: Pot May Cost Homeowner
Prosecutors Seek To Uphold Property Seizure Law

What's The Problem With 'No-Knock' Searches? By Vin Suprynowicz
CN Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal June 03, 2007 USA
Last week, we were asking how police found themselves in the bedroom of a naked couple in Lancaster, Calif., in 2001, guns drawn. This led to a discussion of the problem with "no-knock" -- or even "shout-once-and-storm-in" -- search warrants. On Nov. 21 of last year, Atlanta police planted marijuana on Fabian Sheats, a "suspected street dealer." They told Sheats they would let him go if he "gave them something."
Continued...cannabisnews/23033

Seize This!

Relax Your Muscles as Much as Possible By Vin Suprynowicz

Drugwar Victim Kathryn Johnston, 92 - R.I.P.
Felony Murder charges to be filed against Kathryn Johnston's killers

[DdC]

Almost No Drug Warrants in Atlanta
Since Police Gunned Down Old Woman in Botched Drug Raid
Drug War Chronicle Issue #490, Jun 15, 2007
Atlanta Police Department narcotics officers have not sought a single "no-knock" search warrant in the six months since 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston was killed in a botched drug raid. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which examined court records, the number of all drug search warrants also dropped dramatically, down from at least 125 in the six months preceding her death to 19 in the six months since then.
Continued...stopthedrugwar

The wrong addresses never stop
Drug WarRant Friday, June 15, 2007

It seems like a constant stream of these events now.

Law-enforcement officers raided the wrong house and forced a 77-year-old La Plata County woman on oxygen to the ground last week in search of methamphetamine.

The raid occurred about 11 a.m. June 8, as Virginia Herrick was settling in to watch "The Price is Right." She heard a rustling outside her mobile home in Durango West I and looked out to see several men with gas masks and bulletproof vests, she said.

Herrick went to the back door to have a look.

"I thought there was a gas leak or something," she said.

But before reaching the door, La Plata County Sheriff's deputies shouted "search warrant, search warrant" and barged in with guns drawn, she said. They ordered Herrick to the ground and began searching the home.

"They didn't give me a chance to ask for a search warrant or see a search warrant or anything," she said in a phone interview Thursday. "I'm not about to argue with those big old guys, especially when they've got guns and those big old sledgehammers." [...]

Deputies asked Herrick if she knew a certain man, and she said no. Then they asked what address they were at, and she told them 74 Hidden Lane.

Deputies intended to raid 82 Hidden Lane - the house next door.

While Herrick was on the ground, deputies began placing handcuffs on her. They cuffed one wrist and were preparing to cuff the other.

"I had gotten really angry, and I was shaking from the whole incident," she said.

And she should be angry. But it's this part that really makes me steamed:

Raiding the wrong house was a mistake, but it's one the task force has been learning from, [Southwest Drug Task Force Director Lt. Rick] Brown said. The mistake could have compromised the investigation and deputy safety.

Yeah, right. Fuck the public. Who cares about us in our homes? It might have messed up their drug war or their own safety. Virginia was lucky, I guess. She survived.

Oh, and by the way, the drug task force had supposedly been investigating drug activity at 82 Hidden Lane for a month. Maybe somebody in the task force should get access to Google and look up the addresses.

Or better yet, do some police work.

When I go to visit somebody for the first time, I'm paranoid about checking the number to be sure I've got the right place before I knock on the door (and the worst that my mistake could do is make someone answer the door unnecessarily). Would that not be even more true if you're about to destroy somebody's life and maybe take it?

The fact that these events happen so often not only is a factor of simple percentages (given the extraordinary number of home invasions authorized in the name of the drug war). It also seems that drug warriors have stopped thinking about the public as citizens meriting concern for their safety, but rather as part of an enemy populace.

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

Good-Bye: One Woman Drug War Victim Dies, Another is About To