Posted on 04/26/2007 1:49:56 PM PDT by CrawDaddyCA
Two police officers pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter in the shooting death of a 92-year-old woman during a botched drug raid last fall. A third officer still faces charges in the woman's death.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.aol.com ...
At least they are pleading guilty and saving a trial. Wonder what the deal is?
bump
When they entered the wrong house, they were fired at and returned fire in the direction of the shooter.
The shooter was killed and she was a law-abiding little old lady.
These officers pled out because: (1) they did raid the wrong house and (2) no one wants to go on trial accused of shooting a little old lady.
Probably a smart move on their part.
Good, I hope they get along well with Leroy and Bubba, their new roomies for the next 10 or so years! Don't drop the soap, boys!
Fulton County prosecutor Peter Johnson disclosed Thursday that the officers involved in Johnston's death fired 39 shots, striking her five or six times, including a fatal blow to the chest.
He said Johnston only fired once through her door and didn't hit any of the officers. That means the officers who were wounded likely were hit by their own colleagues, he said.
Wow...justice...whodathunkit???
Not quite the wrong house, but based on wrong testimony by an informant.
State charges, not federal.
“Not quite the wrong house, but based on wrong testimony by an informant.”
Innocent folk die because the cops BELIEVE the crooks/scum/guilty ???
This has gotta stop.
‘no knock’ warrants violate the Constitution and can be deadly
as this case demonstrates.
Looking at another story, it looks like they won’t do any state time. Looks like they will pull some federal time for ‘civil rights’ violations. It does look like the affidavit for the raid warrant may have been falsified.
It's worse than that - apparently the cops improved on the story from the informant in order to get the warrant.
Ahem.
They didn't 'enter' the house.
They busted down the door.
“State charges, not federal.”
This article speaks of Federal charges too.
“The two officers would plead guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to violate a person’s civil rights ending in a death, voluntary manslaughter and other state charges. The pleas are expected later this week.”
The case raised serious questions about no-knock warrants and whether the officers followed proper procedures.
Now that's an understatment. I don't think 30 years would be an unreasonable sentence. Of course, they probably won't do time at all.
Probably so this can fade from public attention and they can let them off with a slap on the wrist.
But if they are punished with severity, even if they believed the lie, it will discourage state actors from taking convenient lies at face value.
If those responsible are punished for this, it reaffirms limitations on state power over we, the producers.
To do otherwise would further tilt the already out-of-balance scale farther in favor of “public servants”.
They may or may not have been the victims of an unfortunate misunderstanding, but the penalty for a given action on the part of a state actor must logically always be more than that for a private, productive citizen.
Can you imagine the outcry if they were three Republicans who belonged to the NRA?
Well, if they never entered the house in which the woman was shot, why are pleading out?
By what manner did they gain entry?
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