Ex-Atlanta cops get prison for drug raid killing

[SomeGuy]

I don't know about you but this is hardly punishment for killing a 92 year old woman and planting evidence to cover up the crime.

Atlanta Journal Constitution

A federal judge on Tuesday handed down varying prison terms to three Atlanta police officers for their roles in the notorious 2006 drug raid that left an elderly woman dead and disgraced the department’s narcotics unit.

U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes sentenced former officer Gregg Junnier to six years in prison, Jason Smith to 10 years in prison and Arthur Tesler to five years in prison.

Junnier and Tesler had faced 10 years under sentenceing guidelines, while Smith faced 12.

Defense attorneys had asked Carnes to reduce sentences for Smith and Junnier in light of their eventual cooperation with authorities.

Carnes said she cut Tesler’s sentence to half that time because of his “minor role” in the botched drug raid.

The officers will not be eligible for parole in the federal system.

On Monday a parade of relatives, friends and pastors spoke on the officers’ behalf at a sentencing hearing before Carnes. Friends of Johnston also recalled the victim.

The trio of officers was involved in a Nov. 21, 2006, drug raid at the Neal Street home of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston.

She was killed by officers after they used a no-knock warrant — obtained with falsified evidence — to storm into her house in search of drugs an informant had inaccurately told them were inside. Apparently thinking the officers were robbers, Johnston fired a shot through the door. Officers responded with 39 shots, five or six of which struck her.

The officers initially sought to cover up their actions in obtaining the warrant, but their story eventually unraveled. All three pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate Johnston’s civil rights.

Carnes said she hopes that if anything good comes from Johnston’s death it will be “a renewed effort by the Atlanta Police Department to prevent something like this from ever happening again.”

She also said the “pressures bnorugh to bear” by the department’s performance quotas, calling for officers to get a certain number of warrants and arrests, “did have an impact on these and other officers on the force.”

“It is my fervent hope the APD will take to heart what has happened here,” the judge said.

 

[Budsmith]

sick piggies.... i hope the big boys in the big house fry their asses like bacon... so sad for the little old lady... i know her last moments were terrifying...

 

[RudolfTheRed]

i was in ATL when this happened and i remember sitting
on the bus and hearing about it on one of TV's on there.
very sad. these shitheads should get life. well really, they
should be put to death. 92 yr. old miss. Johnson would still
be alive as far as I am concerned. 92 years on this earth
and some shit head cops come in and kill her.
its awful.

 

[Stoner4Life]

yup, three little pigs.......

flock 'em, I'd push the button on any and all of their executions.

 

[420oclock]

Hope their time is hard.

 

[Che]

I hope they're put into General Population.

 

[steppinRazor]

thats a load of shit, theres manditory minimums higher than that for drug offenders.

and its one thing to maybe get a little trigger happy (which seems to be a problem with police) but to plant drugs on the "now crime scene"

these motherfuckkers have no regard for human life except their own..

to protect (themselves) and serve (themselves)

 

[HindukushMaster]

damn ja-drool bastids

 

[RudolfTheRed]

I hope they're put into General Population.

i said they should get death but putting them in general population sounds A LOT better. I would love to see what them ATL boys would do with them.

 

[Che]

i said they should get death but putting them in general population sounds A LOT better. I would love to see what them ATL boys would do with them.

Yup. MM sentances, light penalties for korrupt kops, none of that matters. If they're given a few years in Gen. Pop, they will get whats coming to them.

If they're placed in PC or a "Country Club" prison, it's not even approaching my understanding of the definition of "Justice".

 

[Megas]

U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes GOOD JOB

 

[chicalyx]

Tragedy the woman is dead, and fuckedd up they tried covering shit up. That said, I can't fault them for returning fire after she popped at them,, that's survival.

Don't worry fellas, life won't be too nice for them even when they do get released.

 

[RudolfTheRed]

The orginial article sucks by the way,
i know its not the posters fault and i don't blame you
your just posting the story, but not once did it mention this
ladies name Kathryn Johnston until the 8th paragraph.
hell they even start the story by calling her an elderly lady.
yes, that she was but she had a fucking name too and it should
mentioned before the 8th paragraph. these cops took that away
from her. its really disgusting. it really is. this goes a lot deeper than
Mrs. Johnson dying, this has social and racial repercussions and
police brutality has been a problem in certain parts of that city
for YEARS now. only shame is its not getting enough nation
wide publicity in my opinion.

also, those cops deserved to be shot at. home invasion!
she was doing what she had to do to survive.
those cops weren't surviving, they were murdering a lady!!!!!

 

[swampdank]

Hmm. Cops. In prison among a bunch of folks whom a few they probably put there.


I say they join the team as a tight end, and retire as a wide receiver.

 

[Stoner4Life]

If they're placed in PC or a "Country Club" prison, it's not even approaching my understanding of the definition of "Justice".

I've watched a lot of those prison shows lately, they do not make concessions as they did in the old days. 'PC' Protective Custody these days is the same as solitary confinement, 23.5 hours a day in the cell & .5 hour excercise yard time, showers twice a week. All 3 meals served through the slot in the cell door, and eventually you'll come to understand the term 'stir crazy'.

 

[GeneticHeirloom]

I've watched a lot of those prison shows lately, they do not make concessions as they did in the old days. 'PC' Protective Custody these days is the same as solitary confinement, 23.5 hours a day in the cell & .5 hour excercise yard time, showers twice a week. All 3 meals served through the slot in the cell door, and eventually you'll come to understand the term 'stir crazy'.

I've been locked in a small, small room with no windows except one to look out onto the concrete hallway, and although I only spent 72 hours in that, the depth of my temporary insanity still scares the crap out of me. The room gets you, and it gets smaller and smaller, and your body starts making you feel like you have to get out and stretch or run but you cant in this room... Its fucking brutal.

 

[Beeka]

Dont fence me in.

Dont fence me in.

Any Prisontime for growing your own smoke sounds Far Away from Freedom and democracy to me and should to you also. Wake up and smell the roses.

 

[Tronic]

Firstly,

This guy will 100% be placed in PC. The system doesnt just let ex-cops into general pop just like it doesnt let kiddie fiddlers. The only chance they got to get at him is during transfers to and from courthouse and temporary assignment in county. other than that we can just hope they rot frm the inside.

secondly

what these fucks did is absolutely unquestionably disgusting.

i wonder what the outcome would have been if say they went into a middle class white neighborhood and killed grandma with her buick in the driveway, then planted the coverup evidence. I guareentee you these guys would be looking at life.

t

 

[Kush_Master]

Wow thats fucked up. Shit I don't even know what to say.