RTP-area local music and culture

[Duncan Murrell <dvmurrell AT nc.rr.com>]

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.
> -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene
>
>
>
> "A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark  
> and he'll never crow. I have seen the light and I'm crowing." -  
> Muhammad Ali
> http://aroosterforthemasses.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene