aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Dirty Atlanta cops cop a plea

You’ll remember the lying cops in Atlanta who shot and killed a 92-year-old woman during a badly botched drug raid last November. Today they copped a plea:

Former Atlanta Police Officers Greg Junnier and Jason Smith both pled guilty in Fulton County Superior Court Thursday to a series of reduced charges in connection with the botched drug raid that left an elderly Atlanta woman dead.

Junnier and Smith pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter, violation of oath, making false statements and criminal solicitation. Smith pled guilty to the additional charge of perjury.

How egreious was their crime?

The charges followed a Nov. 21 “no-knock” drug raid on the home of Kathryn Johnston, 92. An informant had described buying drugs from a dealer there, police said. When the officers burst in without warning, Johnston fired at them, and they fired back, killing her.

Fulton County prosecutor Peter Johnson said 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 fired only 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. [...]

Assistant U.S. Attorney Yonette Sam-Buchanan said Thursday that although the officers found no drugs in Johnston’s home, Smith planted three bags of marijuana in the home as part of a cover story.

The case raised serious questions about no-knock warrants and whether the officers followed proper procedures.

Via Michael at Gay Orbit who points to Radley Balko who provides this map of Botched Paramilitary Police Raids.