Kathryn Johnston’s life should not have ended the way it did on November 21, 2006. Johnson, 92, was fatally shot after she fired at police as they burst into her residence. Why did this happen? The cops went to serve an illegal no-knock warrant that led to a botched raid and the planting of narcotics in this woman’s house, in an effort to conceal their wrongdoing. We are revisiting this case because Detective Arthur Bruce Tesler, 42, who was convicted of lying to investigators about the Kathryn Johnston shooting was sentenced today, by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson, to four years and six months in prison, as well as six months on probation. He was convicted of lying about the botched drug raid and was also acquitted of two other charges.
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Tesler, who was stationed at the rear of the house, fired no shots but admitted in court that he participated in a cover-up of the illegal no-knock warrant that led to the botched raid and of the planting of narcotics in the house to hide their wrongdoing. Tesler said he didn’t object to lies to get a search warrant and helped cover up the crime after an innocent woman was killed, because he feared retribution from Atlanta police if he became a “rat,” an FBI agent said. He could have faced 20 years in prison if convicted of all three charges, but the jury decided he was not guilty of violating his oath or false imprisonment related to his role in the raid.
Tesler was one of three officers charged in the Johnston case. The other two, Gregg Junnier and Jason R. Smith, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter as well as to federal charges of violating Johnston’s civil rights. The AJC said that Tesler spoke on his own behalf at the sentencing hearing. “I’m truly sorry for what happened,” Tesler said. “I want to do as much as I can to see that it never happens again.” Tesler said he hopes the community around Johnston’s Neal Street home and her family can heal. Heal? How many blacks in this country have stories about being profiled by the cops, sometimes with fatal results such as this?
The AJC said that State Sen. Vincent Fort and others called on U.S. Attorney David Nahmias to pursue federal charges in the case, which drew national attention and uncovered a pattern of Atlanta police abuses. Patrick Crosby, a spokesman for Nahmias, said the prosecutor’s office had no comment. Tesler was one of three officers charged in the Johnston case. The other two, Gregg Junnier and Jason R. Smith, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter as well as to federal charges of violating Johnston’s civil rights.
There is a serious problem with in many police departments across this country. It seems as though they feel they have a blank check to violate people’s civil rights and inflict bodily injury and sometimes death, and walk away scotch free. There is a certain sense of brotherhood evident as well that states implicitly that no one dare rat another cop out. They did the unthinkable to Ms. Johnston. They accused her of having marijuana in her house, knowing that the source of that drug was in fact the very officers who killed this woman. The same situation has reared its head in the beating of the three unarmed black men in Philadelphia and the NYPD’s shooting of Sean Bell, the unarmed man on his wedding day. There must be legislation on the federal level that seeks to hold these departments and police men accountable for their actions. They must not continue to engage in such barbaric behavior and walk free. This is sending the wrong message that it is open-season for the cops to do as they please.
The bigger problem with Ms. Johnston’s case was that the cops went to the judge and go a warrant based on a lie, which they claimed was a good tip from a criminal informant, who has since testified that he told them no such thing. A former Atlanta police officer Gregg Junnier, who has since been sentenced in the crime, previously testified that narcotics officers routinely lied under oath when seeking search warrants, essentially making a mockery of the justice system. He said that detectives would tell judges that they had verified their informants had bought cocaine from dealers by searching them for drugs before the buy took place. This is a big problem that needs to be fixed. Too many innocent lives will be impacted and possibly lost, as was Ms. Johnston’s, on a lie. What is happening in this country? Blacks and Hispanics are always on the receiving end of this pattern of criminal behavior. Just my thoughts, you be the judge….
Filed under: Atlanta Police, Bruce Tesler, Kathryn Johnston, No-Knock Warrant
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