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.
SOP in the war on drugs.
Why is it that when ordinary people commit robbery and someone is killed they’re charged with Murder One, but when cops do it they aren’t?
Warms the heart.
They have a hard job. Come on.
They cuffed her? A ninety-two year old woman who had been shot?
Those aren’t men, those are faggots. Yes, I said the word.
They have a hard job. Come on.
__________________
Not any more.
See Animal Farm by George Orwell: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." In particular, the pigs have special privileges compared to other ordinary animals.
Xavier Bennett: In 1991, police in Dekalb County conduct a 2:30am no-knock raid on the home of Bobby Bowman, a man they suspect of possessing cocaine. They were right. He did, though only enough to identify him as a user, not a dealer. What they didn't expect is that his 8-year-old stepson Xavier Bennett would be inside, too. When Bowman, who says he thought he was being invaded, met police with a gun, the boy was killed in the crossfire. No disciplinary actions were taken against the police.
So police conduct a dangerous no-knock on a home where a child's inside. The child dies. Police blame the father of the child for (1) possessing cocaine, and (2) not realizing the raiding party was police.
Lynette Gayle Jackson: On September 22, 2000, police in Riverdale, Georgia shoot and kill Lynette Gayle Jackson in an early morning, no-knock drug raid.
Less than a month earlier, Jackson had been at home when burglars broke into the same house. She escaped out a window and called the police while the intruders ransacked her home. When police arrived to answer the burglary call, they found a small bag of cocaine in the bedroom that belonged to Jackson's boyfriend. While the quantity of cocaine wasn't sufficient to press charges, police began a subsequent investigation of Jackson's boyfriend that led to the September no-knock raid on her home.
As that raid transpired, Jackson, believing she was being robbed again, held a gun in her bedroom as the SWAT team entered. That's when the police opened fire, killing her. Her maintenance man later told reporters she had been frightened by the previous burglary. Jackson had asked him to install new locks, security bars on her windows, and a motion-detecting security light. The man told the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, "I think she was scared and she probably thought it was another break-in."
No disciplinary action was taken against the officers.
So police raid the home of an innocent woman while looking for her boyfriend. She mistakes them for intruders (justifiably so, after having just been burgled), and is shot and killed. It's all her fault. Shouldn't have been dating a man who uses cocaine. Shouldn't have had a gun for home protection. Shouldn't have been scared. Shouldn't have assumed that when armed men break into your home, it's probably the burglars who broke in last time, not police looking for your small-time, dope-using boyfriend.
Source: Joshua B. Good, "Fulton woman slain during drug raid; Officers open fire after victim grabbed gun as they burst into bedroom of her Riverdale home," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 23, 2000, p. E3.
Roy and Belinda Baker. Early in the morning on September 30, 2005, police in Stockbridge, Georgia conduct a no-knock raid on the home of Roy and Belinda Baker. Officers break down the couple's front door with a battering ram and toss in flashbang grenades. They hold the couple at gunpoint, handcuff them, and then send them out onto their porch, only partially clothed. Police ruin a family Bible and antique coffee table during the raid.
Police eventually realize the intended target of the raid lives next door. Police Chief Russ Abernathy called the raid "inexcusable" and "not acceptable," and blamed poor street lighting. But Abernathy added that no one would be fired of disciplined, and that the raids would go on, albeit after "reviewing procedures." The Bakers are considering a lawsuit.
So police conduct a raid on the wrong home. Had Roy or Belinda Baker owned a gun, one or both might be dead. But since no one was hurt, no harm was done, and it's really no one's fault. So there's no need to assign blame. No one is punished for terrorizing two innocent people.
Sources: Kathy Jefcoats, "Henry police raid 'inexcusable'; Couple gets wake-up call meant for their neighbor," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 6, 2005; Kathy Jefcoats, "Suit threatened in raid 'mistake,'" Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 4, 2006.
Deputy Joseph Whitehead. In 2006, police in Macon conduct a 1:30 am raid on a suspected drug house. Residents of the house say they were startled from sleep, believed they were being robbed, and shot to defend themselves. In the process, the shoot and kill Dep. Whitehead. Once the resident realize they're being raided by police and not gang members, they surrender immediately. Prosecutors charge all five residents with murder, including two who had nothing to do with the shooting, one who wasn't even home at the time of the raid. Two face the death penalty. The sheriff later says of the raid, "It just went wrong."
So if you mistake midnight-raiding police for intruders and there are drugs in your home, your mistake means the death penalty. If your roommates possess drugs and mistake raiding police for intruders and shoot and kill an officer, you're looking at a murder charge.
Source: Phillip Ramati and Joe Kovac Jr., "'It just went wrong,' sheriff says of slaying," Macon Telegraph, April 5, 2006.
Let's leave Georgia, and look at some other cases:
Charles Irwin Potts. On September 4, 1998, police in Charlotte, North Carolina deploy a flashbang grenade and carry out a no-knock warrant for cocaine distribution on a tip from an informant. By the end of the raid, police have put four bullets in 56-year-old Charles Irwin Potts, killing him.
Potts was not the target of the raid. He had visited the house to play a game of cards with friends. Police say Potts drew his gun (which he carried legally) and pointed it at them when they broke into the home. The three men in the house who saw the raid disagree, and say the gun never left Potts' holster. Police found no cocaine, and made no arrests as a result of the raid. The men inside the house at the time of the raid thought they were being invaded by criminals. "Only thing I heard was a big boom," said Robert Junior Hardin, the original target of the raid. "The lights went off and then they came back on . . . everybody reacted. We thought the house was being robbed."
No disciplinary action was taken against the police for Potts' death. So if you're a completely innocent man in someone else's home who mistakes invading police for intruders (assuming the police account is correct, not the account of the men inside) and draw your gun in self-defense, the punishment for your mistake is death. And the police, who are raiding to enforce a consensual crime, are right to shoot you.
Sources: Leigh Dyer, "Anatomy of a Deadly SWAT Raid," Charlotte Observer, September 9, 1998, p. C1; Leigh Dyer, "SWAT Team Serves Risky Warrants, Often Uses Flashbang Devices," Charlotte Observer, September 9, 1998, p. 4C; Gary L. Wright and Leigh Dyer, "No charges in 2 police killings," Charlotte Observer, November 4, 1998, p. C1.
Cheryl Lynn Noel. In January 2005, police in Baltimore conduct an early-morning, no-knock raid on the the Noel home after finding marijuana seeds and traces of cocaine in the family trash. Noel, who's step-daughter had been murdered years earlier, retrieves a legally registered handgun when she hears the sound of home invaders rushing up her steps. A SWAT officer kicks open her door, and Noel, in her nightgown, is clutching the gun, not pointed, when he enters. The SWAT officer, wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet, and carrying a bulletproof ballistics shield, hits Noel twice from the doorway, then shoots her a third time from point-blank range. She dies.
Noel had no criminal record (her husband did, but his offense took place 35 years ago). She conducted Bible-study classes on her lunch breaks. Twenty months after the raid, and probably not coincidentally just weeks after the Noel family filed a civil rights suit, the Baltimore County Police Department awarded the officer who shot and killed Noel a medal for "bravery, courage, and valor" in shooting her.
So if you're a woman whose daughter has been murdered, and you mistake raiding police for criminal intruders, your punishment is death, and the officer who shoots you not only isn't disciplined, he's given an award.
Sources: Joseph M. Giordano, "Woman is shot, killed by police in drug raid," Dundalk Eagle, January 27, 2005; Joseph M. Giordano, "Petition reflects anguish," Dundalk Eagle, March 31, 2005; my own reporting.
Tony Martinez. On December 20, 2001, police in Travis County, Texas storm a mobile home on a no-knock drug warrant. Nineteen-year-old Tony Martinez, nephew of the man named in the warrant, is asleep on the couch at the time of the raid. Martinez was never suspected of any crime. When Martinez rises from the couch as police break into the home, deputy Derek Hill shoots Martinez in the chest, killing him. Martinez is unarmed.
A grand jury later declines to indict Hill in the shooting, and he continues his employment wit the police department. The same Travis County paramilitary unit would later erroneously raid a woman's home after mistaking ragweed for marijuana plants.
So if police conduct a no-knock raid and mistakenly kill a completely innocent, unarmed person, it's no one's fault, because these raids are naturally dangerous and volatile, and it's easy to see how mistaken identity might happen.
Sources: Clair Osborn, "Survivors sue Travis county over fatal raid," Austin American-Statesman, May 10, 2003, p. B1; Claire Osborn, "Deputy not indicted in drug raid death," Austin American-Statesman, April 4, 2002.
Edwin Delamora. On February 15, 2001, the same task force that would later mistakenly shoot and kill Tony Martinez raids the Del Valle, Texas mobile home of Edwin Delamora, who lives with his wife and two children. As two deputies beat down his door with a battering ram, Delamora fires through the door, fearing he is under attack. His wife is on the phone with 911 at the time he fires. One bullet from his gun strikes and kills sheriff's deputy Keith Ruiz.
Delamora had no previous criminal record, and his defense says the raid on his home was influenced by an anonymous informant who turned out to be the brother of two sheriff's deputies. Information about the informant's relationship with the police was suppressed at trial.
Delamora was eventually convicted of capital murder, and sentenced to life in prison. Police found less than an ounce of methamphetamine and one ounce of marijuana in his home. Prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty because of substantial doubt about whether or not Delamora knew the people outside his door were police. That decision sparked heavy criticism from Texas Attorney General John Cornyn (now a U.S. Senator), who moved for a law requiring the death penalty to be an option in any capital murder case.
Time magazine would later report that people in the community were suspicious of the narcotics task force, describing the team's general attitude as "those task-force guys were Rambo wannabes."
So if men are attempting to break into your home, and you mistake them for criminal intruders -- bolstered by the fact that your wife calls 911 -- you get no deference for the volatility or confrontational nature of SWAT raids. Mistake a cop for an intruder when firing your gun, and you're going to jail for a long, long time. And God help you if there's some dope in your house, too. When a member of the same SWAT team later mistakes and unarmed, innocent man for a deadly threat, and consequently shoots and kills him, the police officer won't even be disciplined, much less sent to jail.
Sources: John Cloud, "Guarding Death's Door," Time, July 14, 2003; Jordan Smith, "Another Drug War Casualty," Austin Chronicle, July 19, 2002; "Delamora attorney says key facts were withheld," Austin American-Statesman, July 29, 2002, p. A1; "Cornyn: Death penalty must be option when officer killed," Associated Press, July 25, 2002.
Jose Colon: On April 19, 2002, police prepare to conduct a heavily-armed late-night drug raid (it includes a helicopter) on a home in Bellport, New York. As four paramilitary unit officers rush across the front lawn, 19 year-old Jose Colon emerges from the targeted house.
According to the police account of the raid, as officers approach, one of them trips over a tree root, then falls forward, into the lead officer, causing his gun to accidentally discharge three times. One of the three bullets hits Colon in the side of the head, killing him.
Colon was never suspected of buying or selling drugs, and had no criminal record. Police proceede with the raid, and seized eight ounces of marijuana. A subsequent investigation finds no wrongdoing on the part of police. Colon was months away from becoming the first member of his family to earn a bachelor's degree.
So, again, if a completely innocent person is killed in one of these raids due to police error, we're supposed to be forgiving and understanding. Sometimes bad things happen with guns, I guess.
Sources: Samuel Bruchey, "Victim's girlfriend says shooting wasn't an accident," Newsday, April 26, 2002; Samuel Bruchey, "Cops' account disputed again," Newsday, April 27, 2002; Bruce Lambert, "No indictment in shooting of young man in Suffolk raid," New York Times, August 9, 2002.
Meredith "Buddy" Sutherland. On October 4, 2002, police raid a home in Windsor, Pennsylvania on suspicion of drug activity. Once inside, police go from room to room in the dark home. Trooper Gregory Broaddus enters a bedroom where Meredith "Buddy" Sutherland, Jr. is sleeping. Sutherland doesn't live in the house, but is visiting a friend. Officer Broaddus mistakenly believes Sutherland to be clutching a weapon when he enters the room, and fires, striking Sutherland. Sutherland has no weapon, and would never be charged with a crime. He spent 11 days in a coma, and nearly three weeks in the hospital.
Other occupants of the home were eventually charged with drug crimes. Sutherland sued in June 2004 for redress for his injuries. The state attorney general in turn asked that the suit be dismissed, arguing that the officer in question had qualified immunity, and that, incredulously, Sutherland himself was responsible for his own injuries.
So if you are an innocent person visiting a friend whose roommates are involved in drug activity, if a police officer mistakes something you're holding as you're lying in your bed for a gun, it's your fault for, I guess, lying there so guilty-looking, and your punishment is eleven days in a coma.
James Hoskins. In February 2004, Middletown, Pennsylvania police storm the home of James Hoskins on a drug warrant. They are looking for Hoskins' brother Jim, whom they eventually arrest for possessing "a small amount of marijuana, a glass pipe, and about $622," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
From his bed, Hoskins hears the loud thud of police breaking into his home. Naked and unarmed, he gets up to investigate. As he approaches the door, a Middletown detective pushes his way into Hoskins' bedroom. Hoskins and his girlfriend say the detective never identified himself. The detective fires, and later explains that he mistook the t-shirt Hoskins was using to cover his genitals for a gun. The bullet enters Hoskins' abdomen, and rips through his stomach, small intestine, and colon. It eventually lodges in his leg, which must later be amputated.
It isn't until weeks later, after he emerges from a coma, that Hoskins learns the man who shot him is a police officer, and not a criminal intruder. Remarkably, the Middletown Township police department saw no need to conduct an internal investigation of the shooting until prodded by the district attorney. The officer who shot Hoskins would never be disciplined.
So if a police officer mistakes a t-shirt for a gun and shoots an innocent man, we should give him the benefit of the doubt, given the volatile and confrontational nature of SWAT raids.
Sources: Larry King, "Man shot in apartment by police hopes for justice," Philadelphia Inquirer, April 7, 2004; "Pennsylvania Police Fail To Investigate Shooting of Unarmed Man," Associated Press, September 3, 2004;
Edward Benavides. In November 1993, police in Houston, Texas conduct a pre-dawn no-knock raid on the home of 21-year-old Edward John Benavides. As Officer Leslie I. Early enters the room where Benavides is sleeping, Benavides awakes, grabs his gun, points it at the door, and fires. Early is struck and killed. Upon realizing the raiders are police, Benavides immediately surrenders himself.
A subsequent investigative report by the Houston Chronicle found significant problems with the police investigation and execution of the raid, not least of which was the fact that Benavides didn't know it was police officers who were invading his home until after he'd fired. One officer told the paper, "I think the Task Force may have had more to do with getting [Officer Early] killed than the kid [Benavides] did." Police would not tell the paper the identity of the informant whose tip led to the raid, nor would they say whether or how much the informant was paid. Police found some weapons and $290,000 in cash in Benavides' home (it's not uncommon for immigrants to carry large amounts of cash), but no drugs.
In 1994, a jury convicted Benavides of murder, and sentenced him to life in prison. He wasn't convicted of capital murder and was spared the death penalty because, according to the Houston Chronicle, "jurors had some doubt he knew pre-dawn raiders were police."
So if you mistake police for criminal intruders, and a jury actually concludes that you probably didn't know the men breaking down your door were police, and you consequently shoot and kill one of them, you can still go to prison for life. Because you should have known better. You don't get the benefit that comes with the volatility and confrontational nature of these raids, because you aren't a police officer.
Source: Jennifer Liebrum, "Life imprisonment for convicted killer; Man found guilty in death of officer," Houston Chronicle, September 23, 1994, p. A34; S.K. Bardwell, "New evidence surfaces in flawed SWAT drug raid," Houston Chronicle, June 5, 1994, p. A1.
There are more examples, of course. Far, far too many more. See here.
Did they announce that they were the police with a warrant? I''ll bet she could have opened the door in less than two minutes.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
lord knows, making up all those stories and ramming through all that paperwork is haaaard work
Some cops involved here should hang.
This is far worse than the Duke 'Rape' case. I wish we'd treat it that way.
That’s stunning. When is the MSM going to address this?
Modern times, the Constitution is a living, breathing document. The fact that it is on life support right now and some are only too happy to pull the plug is irrelevant. Whatever it takes to bust those foul criminals with a 1/4 ounce of weed.
Excellent compilation. The arrogance displayed is truly disgusting and downright chilling.
This whole story has me doubting just how far fetched “The Shield” is. I think it might be SOP. You notice one of those cops sports the same haircut as Vic Mackey????
Check this one out.
Joseph Buczek.
A Sarasota, Florida SWAT team is called to the home of Joseph Buczek, who police concede had done nothing wrong and was suspected of no crime.
The SWAT team arrived after a cab driver falsely called and reported that Buczek was “bloody and injured.” When police arrived, they found Buczek asleep in his favorite easy chair, apparently intoxicated and depressed, with a gun at his side.
Hours later, a SWAT team showed up, and deployed a flashbang grenade in Buczek’s direction. Buczek, apparently alarmed, raised his gun in the direction of the noise, at which point Sgt. John LeBlanc shot him to death. Police later said they deployed the flashbang and commenced the raid on Buczek “for his own safety” and that police themselves would have been criticized had Buczek killed himself while police continued to wait him out.
A subsequent investigation found no wrongdoing on the part of police, and concluded that Buczek shouldered most of the blame for his own death.
Sources:
Lou Ferrara, “Tragedy on 12th Street; The Shooting of Joseph Buczek, Jr.; Police Decisions Took a Deadly Turn,” Sarasota Heard Tribune, Febraury 2, 1997, p. A1.
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