Atlanta cops get slap on wrist for murder, conspiracy
Ex-Atlanta cops get prison for drug raid killing
Judge says police department quotas put excess pressure on officers
A federal judge who sent three fallen cops to prison for a notorious drug raid that left an elderly woman dead said Tuesday that Atlanta Police Department performance quotas unduly influenced the officers’ behavior.
“It is my fervent hope the Atlanta Police Department will take to heart what has happened here,” U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes said. At the close of an emotional two-day hearing, Carnes sentenced former officers Gregg Junnier, Jason R. Smith and Arthur Bruce Tesler to between 5 and 10 years in prison.
Carnes imposed the most severe sentence – 10 years – on Smith, 36, who obtained the illegal, no-knock search warrant allowing officers to batter down 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston’s door.
A terrified Johnston, thinking she was victimized by a home invasion, fired a warning shot through the door. Narcotics officers responded with a hail of gunfire, killing her.
Carnes sentenced Junnier, 42, to 6 years in prison. Junnier, the most experienced officer, was the first to cross the “blue line” – the unspoken code of silence among police – and divulge to the FBI what really happened at Neal Street and how the officers concocted a sophisticated coverup.</em>
What worthless, worthless human beings. First, you’re a drug cop. That alone is shameful, spending your life enforcing laws that tell adults what they can and cannot do to themselves. Not to mention the millions of dollars your drug squad hoovers out of our pockets each year. Then, you whine about quota pressure as an excuse for just making up evidence- evidence you used to murder a 92 year old woman. Its a pathetic way to earn a living, and may you never walk our streets as free men again. Pathetic.
