Kathryn Johnston: A Year Later

Kathryn Johnston: A Year Later 92-year-old woman's death has done little to curb the use of paramilitary police tactics around the country.

It was one year ago this week that narcotics officers in Atlanta, Georgia broke into the home of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston.

They had earlier arrested a man with a long rap sheet on drug charges. That man told the police officers that they'd find a large stash of cocaine in Johnston's home. When police forced their way into Johnston's home, she met them holding a rusty old revolver, fearing she was about to be robbed. The police opened fire, and killed her.

Shortly after the shooting, the police alleged that they had paid an informant to buy drugs from Ms. Johnston's home. They said she fired at them first, and wounded two officers. And they alleged they found marijuana in her home.

We now know that these were all lies. In fact, everything about the Kathryn Johnston murder was corrupt. The initial arrest of the ex-con came via trumped-up charges. The police then invented an informant for the search warrant, and lied about overseeing a drug buy from Johnston's home

“We now know that once the officers in the Johnston case knew they were in trouble, they pressured one of their actual drug informants to lie for them, and vouch for the fabricated account of the controlled buy.

That informant—Alex White—refused, and bravely came forward to tell the media what had happened. Had he given in to the pressure put on him by APD narcotics officers, the world would still likely believe Kathryn Johnston was a drug dealer, and her killing was justified.”

This is audio of the informant calling police after fleeing from the other cops.

http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/ajc/swf/Informant911call/Informant911call.swf

Let's see now. If my daughter's husband decides he doesn't like me, relapses from rehab and goes back on drugs again, finds out I called the police from a cell phone the clerk let me use at the gas station because I could not get the pay phone to work and didn't want my call traced by caller ID when he stabbed his dog (my grandson said he was high on crack, the dog turned on him, wonder why?, ended up taking the bleeding dog out in the country and shooting it dead, tries to burn the carcass in the back yard, police believed his story, the dog attacked him, well yeah) gets pi$$ed at me. Incidently the police chief of that town got busted for selling pot along with some others, one honest police officer got fired over something else. He can become an "informant", tell them I am growing marijuana under my grow lights (I'm rooting rose cuttings and going to start seeds for spring), a SWAT team can kick in my door in the middle of the night, causing a major panic attack or possibly actual heart attack, I am at their mercy even though I am not armed, cuff me, plant marijuana in crawl space in my basement, and nobody would be the wiser? Except my WHOLE family who all know I would never do anything like that. Who would believe THEM?

I sat across from him at Thanksgiving meal yesterday, and I will never feel comfortable with him again or having my daughter stay with him, but that is her choice.

You know, I HAVE worried a little that somebody that didn't like me might plant or have someone else do it, contraband in my house, then call the police on me. Heaven knows I've been turned into CPS enough times on false charges. Nice way to grow old.

This is OT but I get a letter today from Dianne Feinstein thanking me for writing about Jacqueline Coats, whom I believe I never heard or read about, who was to be deported, hopes I will continue to write about matters of importance to me. I don't remember ever writing any rep about any illegal (I might indeed feel compassion for the lady, might not), did I sign an online petition or something? I don't think so. This is the second letter like this I have gotten only the other time, I did contact the rep, but never anything about the war in Iraq.

Hmmmm. I was going to throw it in the recycle sack, but now I think I will frame it for posterity along with a note I have gone senile and contacted a rep and completely forgot about it.

Just for the heck of it, I think I will write Dianne Feinstein and send her a copy of this article and ask what she intends to do about police kicking in doors of the wrong house, murdering the occupant, covering it up, and planting phony evidence. I also might suggest in their boilerplate responses to concerned citizens that they reference the means of contact, who took down the info, the date, and the subject.

After reading the whole article I thought: clever drug pushers are providing red herrings through anonymous tips to the cops.

A house not to far from ours used to be a drug trafficker’s house. He didn’t deal out of his house but arranged for the trafficking of millions of dollars of heroin, meth and marijuana up and down the I-5 corridor through California, Oregon and Washington states. It was a surprise when the Feds came and ransacked the house because this is not a shabby neighborhood. Glad they didn’t get the address wrong.

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