Kathryn Johnston
Atlanta, Georgia The Fulton County District Attorney will seek murder charges against the three Atlanta police officers involved in the shooting death of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston.
D.A. Paul Howard said he will take the case to a Grand Jury later this month.
An attorney for Officer Gregg Junnier said the charges the D.A. plans to take to the jury include felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, burglary, and other charges.
Kathryn Johnston was shot and killed inside her Neal Street home in northwest Atlanta when narcotics officers tried to serve a no-knock search warrant. Johnston, armed with a handgun, thought the officers were intruders and in an exchange of multiple gunshots, she was killed.
Monday, at the Fulton County Courthouse, Rev. Markel Hutchins — a spokesperson for Johnston’s family — asked Howard to recuse himself from the investigation.
In a terse letter, Howard refused.
Hutchins said the case is more far reaching that the state can go. He said Johnston’s death can only receive justice from the federal civil rights division.
Hutchins was instrumental in getting the FBI involved in the investigation. It was originally a joint one, including the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s office, the GBI and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. But it is clear that there is a rift between the federal investigation and the D.A.
Read the background information in the links below.
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My Previous Posts on This Story:
Nov. 27,2006 92-Year-Old Lady Shot Dead in Own Home in Drug Raid
Jan. 11, 2007 Criminal Charges Coming in Police Shooting
Prediction. They will get off with a misdemeanor at most.
Don’t count on a murder conviction. You would have to prove that the officers purposely and knowingly killed this person, which was not the case. Maybe manslaughter.
Anyway this looks to be shaping up to be another fiasco in which passion and race will drive the case, not the facts. I’m surprised Al Sharpton hasn’t been marching in Atlanta.
2. “Don’t count on a murder conviction.”
It appears that the cops are not even being charged with murder or manslaughter.
Instead the prosecutor is going with felony murder which is much easier to prove. Felony murder is committed when anyone is killed during a commission of a felony. And the defendant does not have to do any killing. Anyone committing the felony would be guilty of felony murder, even the person sitting out in the get-away car.
Thus, if the jury believes the cops were committing any felony and that Kathryn died as a result of the commission of that felony, those cops will be convicted of felony murder. Which in my state at least, is analogous to first degree murder.
Ditto.
I don’t know what these prosecutors smoke, but there’s no way to get a felony murder conviction in a case like this and the officers (who were negligent in some way) usually get off scott free (a cynic would see that as part of the ploy).
does this mean you think this wouldn’t be an issue if the 92 year old lady was white? Everyone would just let it go
Realistically, yes. There would be an investigation, the facts would be checked and the incident would go down as a sad mistake. But add a black victim and white officers and it becomes a page 1 soap opera. (Durham anyone)
sorry gquaglia but that’s crap – there would be just as much outrage – it would just be focused by different people with different imagery.
But to say it would be brushed off is crap.
According to the local paper (AJC) one of the charged officers told federal investigators that the officers lied to a magistrate judge in order to get the no knock warrant. Legal experts say that if deceit was used to obtain the warrant, then everything that happened when the officers broke down the door could be considered criminal. http://tinyurl.com/279lr6 (registration may be required). And it seems to me that even if local DA Howard pursues the criminal charges, the family can still seek redress for civil rights violations through the federal authorities.
a couple of things to note, here.
(1) grand jury proceedings are secret; and
(2) prosecutors can charge people by ‘information’ which does not require a grand jury.
It is not unusual for prosecutors who feel political heat to charge cops with crimes to take the case to the grand jury, do a half-assed job (secrecy helps cover this up), then fail to get an indictment. They then shrug their shoulders and say the grand jury has spoken. They then refuse to press charges via information saying it would not be fair to do so since the GJ did not see fit to act.
I am not saying that is what would happen here, but it would not surprise me. I would suggest that cop shooting cases require someone else to handle them, since the cops and the prosecutors normally work hand in glove and cannot be trusted to enforce the law against each other.
#7 “sorry gquaglia but that’s crap – there would be just as much outrage – it would just be focused by different people with different imagery.
But to say it would be brushed off is crap.”
I beg to differ. Two years ago, a SWAT team from a town in my state conducted a midnight raid at the motel room of a suspected felon. They broke down his door without announcing themselves and killed him (white) as he reached for a gun on the night stand. They also killed the woman who was sharing his bed. The ensuing investigation found no wrong-doing by the officers.
There was no public outcry. People figured he got what he deserved and felt the woman must have just been a slut to sleep with a felon (alleged). But I project myself into the same set of circumstances — sleeping in a dark motel room with a gun nearby, then suddenly someone breaks through my locked door and all my foggy brain has to process are shadows, flashlight beams, and yelling — and I see the fault resting completely with the police. If they thought the guy was armed, then what idiot expected any other result than a dead suspect? And how can the police know he was in the room, yet never give a thought to the innocent woman sleeping with him?
By the way, felons do not arm themselves so that they can go out in a blaze of glory, exchanging gunfire with “the man.” With armed robbers being the notable exception, most felons arm themselves against other felons, which is who this guy probably thought was busting in.
Police officers involved in shootings should not be treated any different than a normal citizen, unless the have clearly identified themselves as officers of the law.
Police officers involved in shootings should not be treated any different than a normal citizen, unless the have clearly identified themselves as officers of the law.
Comment by Smith — 2/8/2007 @ 5:31 pm
Very good point. I would like to add that although police should be held to a different standard then citizens, they should not be given carte blanch when it come to assault either.
This case is so sad. Hopefully people will wake up to the idea that people need to be responsible for their actions. These officers were not defending the community when they started fabricated evidence, they were just criminals as well.
#6 “does this mean you think this wouldn’t be an issue if the 92 year old lady was white? Everyone would just let it go”
gquaglia wrote:
“Realistically, yes. ”
Race isn’t always a factor. Last Halloween in Long Beach California, 20-40 black juveniles severely beat 3 young white girls. Nine of the teens were found guilty of felony assault, causing great bodily injury, with hate-crime enhancements. They were all sentenced to probation (including detention during the trial).
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_5173386
#5 – Meanwhile, it brings me back to the conclusion: the war on drugs is a fiasco, a disaster, a cluster****. Just heard on TV last night: Prohibition made the Mafia what it is today. The WOD is creating new Mafias, with links to governments, militaries, and intelligence outfits that will make the Mafia seem tame.
Nice to see truth told. I’ll just add – the WOD is not creating new Mafias. That ship has long since sailed. The new crime families are white and politically powerful at the top, not swarthy and Italian. That’s the main reason congress refuses to stop propping up the black markets.