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  • From: Duncan Murrell <dvmurrell AT nc.rr.com>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: So it's Atlanta, and it's not music, but it *is* political
  • Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2006 17:02:58 -0500

Most recent, relevant info follows.

It was just last June that the U.S. Supreme Court made evidence gathered after no-knock entries admissible, so long as there was a warrant. This unmade more than 100 years of case law. Justice O'Connor heard the case and was likely opposed to the practice, mentioning particularly the "sanctity of the home," but she retired before the decision. Justice Alito went with the majority, as did Chief Justice Roberts. Justice Scalia wrote the opinion. Whether Kathryn Johnston is dead as a result of that decision, I suppose we'll never know for sure, but it certainly didn't help the situation.

The information that supported the warrant was received from a paid informant. It troubles me just as much to know that everywhere, including in our community, law enforcement agencies use professional informants who are only barely supervised, if at all. I say "professional" rather than paid, because some of them make a kind of living doing it. Most of them were crooks, and probably are crooks still.

Anyway:

============

Answers sought after fatal raid
Activist wants feds to look at woman's death

By Bill Montgomery
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/25/06
An Atlanta civil rights activist is calling for a federal investigation into the fatal shooting by Atlanta police of a 92-year- old woman during a drug raid at the woman's home.
Police contend they wanted to search Kathryn Johnston's house because an undercover drug purchase had been made there earlier on Tuesday, the day of the shooting. Johnston wounded three officers, emptying a six-shot revolver before being shot to death, police said.
The Rev. Markell Hutchins, the civil rights activist, said he will deliver a letter to the Justice Department on Monday urging the agency to investigate "what we believe are at worst, gross violations of this woman's life, and at best, poor judgment on the part of the police officers."
Hutchins said he talked Friday morning with police Chief Richard Pennington, who was out of town when the shootout occurred.
"His officers should have known at a minimum who was living in that residence before they went in there with guns blazing," Hutchins said.
Johnston was a frail woman who lived behind burglar bars at a home owned by her niece.
Police contend they obtained a no-knock search warrant for the Neal Street house after buying drugs Tuesday afternoon from a man inside the home.
The no-knock warrant is frequently used in suspected drug cases because police believe their surprise entry into a home prevents drug dealers from flushing or destroying the evidence. In this case, the warrant did not name a person, referring only to a "John Doe, aka Sam," the standard reference when a person's name is not known, police said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been unable to independently confirm the police account about the need for the no-knock warrant because it has not been allowed to look at the sworn statement that police provided to a judge to obtain the warrant.
State Court Administrator Stefani Searcy refused again Friday to release the documents, even though they are public records subject to immediate disclosure under Georgia law. Searcy has cited "office policy" as her reason for withholding the information.
Assistant Chief Alan Dreher has maintained police seized drugs from Johnston's home, but he has not said what the drugs were or where they were found.
Police said they knocked on Johnston's door about 7 p.m. before pulling off the burglar bars and knocking down the front door.
Dreher said Johnston should have recognized the men as officers even though they were not wearing uniforms. He said all three wore bulletproof vests that had the word "police" across the front and back. He said they shouted they were police as they burst through the door.
Johnston met the narcotics investigators with gunfire, police said. Medical examiners said she was shot twice in the chest and in extremities.
The three officers are recovering from their wounds and are on leave with pay until the investigation is complete. The police department said its internal affairs unit would investigate the shooting. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation also is reviewing the incident.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard also has vowed to investigate. He said a preliminary review of the Johnston shooting indicated that the officers "had a legal right" to search the home.
Hutchins wants more.
"Clearly, the police had a right to exercise a search warrant. I intend to ask the Justice Department to determine, did they have sufficient evidence for a no-knock warrant. What evidence did they have? That's what the community needs to know."
On Friday on Johnston's block, just off Joseph P. Lowery Boulevard, residents still buzzed about what happened.
Police have described their drug suspect as 6 feet tall and 250 to 260 pounds. Nobody seemed to know a man fitting that description in the neighborhood. Some expressed doubts about the police account of what happened. "I think that's just something they made up," said Curtis Mitchell, Johnston's longtime neighbor.
Three days after the shooting, yellow police tape still surrounded Johnston's home, where a memorial of flowers and stuffed animals rested at the edge of her lawn.
Johnston's home is attracting visitors —- those who want to see the location of what has become a national story in hopes of making the senseless somehow make sense.
"Is this the house?" Willie Stone, 74, asked from his car. He said he hadn't been in the neighborhood in 50 years. The last time was to visit a woman he was dating.
"I was just coming to see it," said Stone, who lives in the city's Collier Heights neighborhood. "I've got my doubts about what happened."
Tabitha Crowder, who lives nearby, also came over to catch a glimpse. "We just walked past just to see," Crowder said. "It's so sad and hurtful."
Staff writers S.A. Reid and Saeed Ahmed contributed to this article.



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Duncan Murrell
www.rattlejar.com


On Nov 27, 2006, at 4:18 PM, a rooster for the masses wrote:

If someone kicks my door down using a "No Knock" warrant I would probably shoot at them as well!

John I <not AT hotmail.com> wrote: Lisa Drake wrote:

In article <20061122212313.60340.qmail AT web54602.mail.yahoo.com>,
thebackyardbbq AT yahoo.com (mc^2) wrote:

...and I know some of you amchsters love your
politics...

Most people are probably gonna obsess on the race card
with this one, but the fact is, there are real age and
gender issues involved as well. If there's one thing
I've learned the past 6 years, in some towns, if
you're female, and especially as you get "older," the
only way you're gonna succeed is if you take the quiet
role, act the way you're supposed to, and rather than
defend yourself when challenged, always defer to the
men. "Women, know your place." In Atlanta,
apparently the police have decided to execute this
with deadly force.


Read on,

E.

link w/AP video, etc.:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ELDERLY_SHOOTOUT? SITE=RIWAR&SECTI
ON=HOM E&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

AP story:

Nov 22, 2:37 PM EST
Woman, 92, Slain in Shootout With Police

ATLANTA (AP) -- The niece of a 92-year-old woman shot
to death by police said her aunt likely had reason to
shoot three narcotics investigators as they stormed
her house.

Police insisted the officers did everything right
before entering the home Tuesday evening, despite
suggestions from the woman's neighbors and relatives
that it was a case of mistaken identity.

The woman, Kathryn Johnston, was the only resident in
the house at the time and had lived there for about 17
years, Assistant Chief Alan Dreher said. The officers
had a legal warrant, "knocked and announced" before
they forced open the door and were justified in
shooting once fired upon, he said.

Sarah Dozier, the niece, told WAGA-TV that there were
never drugs at the house.

"My aunt was in good health. I'm sure she panicked
when they kicked that door down," Dozier said. "There
was no reason they had to go in there and shoot her
down like a dog."

As the plainclothes Atlanta police officers approached
the house about 7 p.m., a woman inside started
shooting, striking each of them, said Officer Joe
Cobb, a police spokesman.

One was hit in the arm, another in a thigh and the
third in a shoulder. The officers were taken to a
hospital for treatment, and all three were conscious
and alert, police said.

Rev. Markel Hutchins, a civil rights leader, said
Johnston's family deserves an apology.


"Of the police brutality cases we've had, this is the
most egregious because of the woman's age," Hutchins
said.

Hutchins said he would try to meet with Atlanta Police
Chief Richard Pennington and would also meet with
lawyers.



I was in ATL this week and read a lot about this. My problem is the
fact that a 92 year old woman is automatically assumed to be innocent by
default, when no one really knows if that is the case.



There used to be a tradition in the US of presuming innocence in criminal
cases. Those were the days. However, now with the War on Terror and all, we
can't afford that particular triviality anymore. Better one old lady be
killed and an entire city block be terrorized by the police than even one bag
of pot go free. This is war, after all.

Anyway: Any word on why the cops couldn't wait until the old lady went to
pick up her social security check to grab her? Did they absolutely HAVE to
storm the house? Were there White Supremicists (for example[1]) trafficing
in cyanide bombs (for example) in the apartment and it just couldn't wait?



[1] replace these examples with ones of your own choosing. One man's boogey
man is another man's imaginary friend, after all.
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