Posted on 04/30/2007 10:37:19 PM PDT by FreedomCalls
Feds detail woman's death, officers' plea
Published on: 04/27/07
According to federal documents released Thursday, these are the events that led to Kathryn Johnston's death and the steps the officers took to cover their tracks.
Three narcotics agents were trolling the streets near the Bluffs in northwest Atlanta, a known market for drugs, midday on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
Eventually they set their sights on some apartments on Lanier Street, usually fertile when narcotics agents are looking for arrests and seizures.
Gregg Junnier and another narcotics officer went inside the apartments around 2 p.m. while Jason Smith checked the woods. Smith found dozens of bags of marijuana — in baggies that were clear, blue or various other colors and packaged to sell. With no one connected to the pot, Smith stashed the bags in the trunk of the patrol car. A use was found for Smith's stash 90 minutes later: A phone tip led the three officers to a man in a "gold-colored jacket" who might be dealing. The man, identified as X in the documents but known as Fabian Sheats, spotted the cops and put something in his mouth. They found no drugs on Sheats, but came up with a use for the pot they found earlier.
They wanted information or they would arrest Sheats for dealing.
While Junnier called for a drug-sniffing dog, Smith planted some bags under a rock, which the K-9 unit found.
But if Sheats gave them something, he could walk.
Sheats pointed out 933 Neal St., the home of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston. That, he claimed, is where he spotted a kilogram of cocaine when he was there to buy crack from a man named "Sam."
They needed someone to go inside, but Sheats would not do for their purposes because he was not a certified confidential informant.
So about 5:05 p.m. they reached out by telephone to Alex White to make an undercover buy for them. They had experience with White and he had proved to be a reliable snitch.
But White had no transportation and could not help.
Still, Smith, Junnier and the other officer, Arthur Tesler, according to the state's case, ran with the information. 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.
The next day, one of them, allegedly Tesler, completed the required incident report in which he wrote that the officers went to the house because their informant had bought crack at the Neal Street address. And Smith turned in two bags of crack to support that claim.
They plotted how they would cover up the lie.
They tried to line up one of their regular informants, Alex White, the reliable snitch with the unreliable transportation.
The officers' story would be that they met with White at an abandoned carwash Nov. 21 and gave him $50 to make the buy from Neal Street.
To add credibility to their story, they actually paid White his usual $30 fee for information and explained to him how he was to say the scenario played out if asked. An unidentified store owner kicked in another $100 to entice White to go along with the play.
The three cops spoke several times, assuring each other of the story they would tell.
But Junnier was the first to break.
On Dec. 11, three weeks after the shooting, Junnier told the FBI it was all a lie.
Yeah, right, don’t hold your breath. Bob never met a government employee he didn’t trust or a law he thought was Constitutionally null and void.
So, with all of that evidence, was Mrs. Scott able to sue? What was the outcome in this case?
Why? No one on FR would bat an eye at the call for a garden variety criminal who killed someone to be executed or, failing a death sentence, to opine that it might be best if they died in prison, and this is a far more egregious offense. So what's your problem?
Pretty cold comfort for a murdered husband if you ask me.
L
It is things like this that give cops a bad name.
Which is quite alarming. We don't need a corrupt police state. People will trust the police more if they admit to the problems within their ranks and deal harshly with it.
As long as they defend this, they lose credibility.
It is, but enough losses and the municipalities will decide this is not a money making endeavor, or their insurers will help them figure it out. What pisses me off about when the government steps on the serfs bad enough that they are actually, finally, found civilly liable is that it's those very serfs that have to pick up the bill! How sweet a deal is that?
The cops were in the wrong.
Wow. Thanks, RP.
They shot a blast grenade into the room he was in, broke in, saw his hand move in his sleep and machine gunned (yes, SQUAT Teams have M-16's) him to death, “for his own safety.”
Nah, nothing wrong there.
Nothing wrong at all...
There may be hope for you yet Bobby. ;-)
A newb authoritarian squealing about archy!
>>groan
(((((crickets)))))
I'd be ashamed too.
I've been very busy lately and haven't had the time to closely follow the news. I 'm aware you want my attention. I gather the media are now reporting a different story, but I'm not sure how complete it is. It could still unfold in unpredictable ways as liars are involved. My original response was to the story as reported. What I don't get is how annal retentive in crying foul cops or protesting the war on drugs that you take the time to look me up months later to say, "see I told you so."
I going to get some sleep now. Good night.
Ok, splain this (((((crickets))))) since it’s the only thing that generated a response from loneranger. Although a pathetic one.
(not pinging loneranger since LR doesn’t want to be bothered with responding to me.)
Seems the war on drugs has lost it's way. This is just unbelievable law enforcement corruption
What's surprising about that? They knew they screwed to pooch and were focused on saving their asses, not that poor woman.
I'm not one to automatically bash cops, but I don't put them on a pedestal either. There are good, bad, and mostly in between in any profession (albeit these young cops who all pumped up, shave their heads and act like Robo-officer should be fired on the spot -- or at least tested for steroids and then fired.)
And always remember the under the best of circumstances, Bill of Rights is only in effect when you are in court with a lawyer at you side. You have no rights that are bound to be respected on the street.
“And always remember the under the best of circumstances, Bill of Rights is only in effect when you are in court with a lawyer at you side. You have no rights that are bound to be respected on the street.”
Good point.
The thing is...he'll be back in full force the next time this happens
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