AlterNet: Jail Sentences for Cops Who Planted Pot on 92-Year Old They Killed in Botched Drug Raid

[marmar]

Jail Sentences for Cops Who Planted Pot on 92-Year Old They Killed in Botched Drug Raid

By Christopher Moraff, AlterNet. Posted February 26, 2009.

Three former Atlanta police officers were sentenced for shooting Kathryn Johnston and attempting to cover up their cruel acts.



Three former Atlanta police officers were sentenced to prison time this week for the shooting death of a 92 year-old grandmother after breaking down her door during a botched drug raid.

Jason Smith, Gregg Junnier and Arthur Tesler received sentences ranging from five to 10 years on charges of conspiracy to violate civil rights resulting in death.

In November 2006, the officers -- all members of Atlanta's narcotics squad -- gunned down Kathryn Johnston inside her home. The police claimed to be acting on information they received from a confidential informant that drugs were being sold from the house. That allegation turned out to be false.

From the beginning evidence showed the officers manipulated a highly suspect system to justify an assault on Johnston's home.

As AlterNet first reported in April 2007 first reported in April 2007, the cops began by planting evidence on a known drug dealer to solicit information about narcotics being sold out of Johnston's home; they then used fabricated testimony from a separate confidential informant to obtain a search warrant. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/128917/jail_sentences_for_cops_who_planted_pot_on_92-year_old_they_killed_in_botched_drug_raid/

[jody]

1. Excellent report "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America", link below.

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.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. A murder charge would be more appropriate.nt

[eShirl]

3. JUSTICE

it's a start, anyway

[Mariana]

4. Five to ten years?

That's a damn small start.

[Brewman_Jax]

5. It was all over the news

and they got away with murder--nothing new. :(