Cop Gets 4 ½ Years In Death Of 92-Year-Old

Atlanta Officer Sentenced For Lying About Botched Raid That Ended In Fatal Shooting Of Woman

(AP)  A city police officer was sentenced Thursday to 4 1/2 years in prison for lying to investigators about a botched drug raid that ended in the shooting death of a 92-year-old woman.

Arthur Tesler, 42, was the only officer to face trial in the raid, which led to an outcry from civil rights activists and to a shake up of the police department. Tesler also was sentenced to serve six months of probation and 450 hours of community service.

Kathryn Johnston died in a hail of police bullets after narcotics officers burst into her northwest Atlanta home the night of Nov. 21, 2006, using a special no-knock warrant to search for drugs.

Testimony showed that Tesler was in Johnston's back yard when other officers went in through the front door. Johnston fired a single shot at the intruders, and officers returned a volley of 39, striking her five or six times.

Police originally said they had gone to the woman's house after an informant bought drugs there. After searching the home and finding no drugs, the officers tried to cover up the mistake, planting three baggies of marijuana, prosecutors said.

Tesler was convicted of making false statements, but was acquitted of two more serious charges, violating his oath of office and of false imprisonment under color of legal process.

Tesler lied to support his partners' claims that they had valid information for a search warrant, but he later admitted the truth to the FBI, said his lawyer, William J. McKenney.

McKenney asked Johnson for the minimum one-year prison sentence, and called relatives and one of Tesler's neighbors to vouch for his character and ask the judge to allow him to return soon to his wife and four children, ages 10 months to 13 years.

The shackled Tesler blinked back tears as his wife, Kelli, expressed their remorse for the tragedy and described her husband as a good man and "a dad who has to regularly beat up monsters in the closet before bedtime."

The prosecutor, Kellie S. Hill, asked the judge to sentence Tesler to the maximum of five years in prison "to do what is just for Ms. Johnston."

Hill said Tesler could have told the truth at any time.

"For those monsters that he can't fight for his children, he can blame himself," she said.

Two others, Jason R. Smith and Gregg Junnier, have pleaded guilty to state manslaughter and federal civil rights charges. They have been helping investigators in other cases unrelated to Johnston's death and have not yet been sentenced. Federal prosecutors are recommending 10 years and one month in prison for Junnier and 12 years and seven months for Smith.

[keithle1]

Big deal. What a tragedy. The old beeyotch was 92 for crying out loud. If she had lived, what would she have done with her life? Run for President. We have more than enough old women shuffling around bothering everyone. Die! Die! Die!

Have a blessed Memorial Day weekend.

[patriot12436]

mjlewis6
If they knock and serve in the day time then the evidence gets flushed down the toilet, the drug dealers are always reaedy to be raided and plan in advance. I am retired military and law enforcement. I was honest while in law enforcement and would not keep quiet if i saw police doing something illegal. I think th majority of police are honest but like anywhere else you also have dishonest ones as well. That is why they have internal investigations. I think the thought of being set up would be enough to keep a cop honest.

[patriot12436]

impeach_w
the definition of murder is the willful intent to tqake a life wirth premeditation. This was a series of mistakes compounded by more mistakes. It was not murder as the police had a real threat when she opened fire on them. If i had been this woman and someone kicked in my door i would have opened fire also so i am not blaming this lady at all. She was acting accordingly in fear for her own life.

[patriot12436]

bjlewis6
Police are tqaught to shoot for mass, or shoot to kill. The presumption is if you have reason to shoot then it is because you have reason to fear for your life. Have you ever been in a shootout, they usually lasty no more than 15 seconds, everything happens very quickly but the adrenalin kicks in and it seems like it takes forever.

[patriot12436]

mvc57
Nowhere in the story did i read about what race the cos were. Usually on drug teams they are of all races. Face it a black man can get more evidence in a black neighborhood than a white man can. At any rate the race is irrelevant, the fact a mistake was made and they tried to cover it up is what the issues are here. I think if they had come clean to begin with the city would have paid a wrongful death lawsuit and that would have been the end of this story. I feel sorry whenever any innocent person becomes a victim like this.

[patriot12436]

The sory said they had a warrant but had went to the wrong house. After realizing their mistake they tried to cover it up. They should have came out and said they made a mistake and thy probably wouldn''t be going to jail. It is tragic but this is not the first time the police have served a warrant at the wrong address. I found in bad areas a lot of the houses do not have numbers on their houses. I think there were a lot of mistakes made iin this case but to cover it up was their biggest mistake and tragically this woman died because of their mistake.

[bobnjersey]

[In part they firmly support racist gun control that were created for the sole purpose of keeping the black population from owning or carrying guns. Ironically, many of those gun laws were eventually turned against poor whites in later times. Nothing good comes from supporting bad laws for bad purposes.][Posted by kindrox at 04:39 AM : May 23, 2008]

racist gun control? and this was created w/ the specific reason to ''keep the black man down''? and this was ''liberals'' that had this master plan? and then this same liberal conspiracy was applied to poor whites?

what are you smoking? do you have a reference to the sources for this theory ... or did you just make this up?

[bobnjersey]

[THINK for minute you idiot ... 1st. the police didn''''t go there for grandma%u2019s cookies. They had enough information to get a warrant ...]
[Posted by THEEGGMAN369 at 09:28 AM : May 23, 2008]

did you read the story? the info used to justify the warrant was fabricated ... to create the justification. then they lied again by trying to cover up the incident by planting evidence ... then they lied again to back up their coverup.

and you somehow only see the gun the woman had as the issue? what''s wrong with you?

"Police originally said they had gone to the woman''s house after an informant bought drugs there. After searching the home and finding no drugs, the officers tried to cover up the mistake, planting three baggies of marijuana, prosecutors said ... Tesler lied to support his partners'' claims that they had valid information for a search warrant, but he later admitted the truth to the FBI, said his lawyer, William J. McKenney. "

[patriot12436]

b

[theeggman369]

THINK for minute you idiot. She lived in a bad neighborhood, had a gun for her protection, the COPS used a no-knock warrant. She thought they were criminals. Turned out she was right. Man, some of you sure are stupid
Posted by magoo2u1
You%u2019re a freaking imbecile, if you''ll put aside your emotions and analyze the situation, perhaps you can come to a more informed conclusion.
1st. the police didn''t go there for grandma%u2019s cookies. They had enough information to get a warrant.
2nd. put yourself in their shoes. If you were a cop and you had the information given you, and you bust into a house where you believe bad people with guns are, and shots are fired at you, are you going to just throw out all your training and not return fire?
3rd. If granny didn''t have a gun, she would most likely be alive today, and suing the PD, with Rev Al and JJ at her side.
4th. You seem to actually believe that gangs of people routinely break into old people%u2019s houses, that this is such a common occurrence that 92 y/o grannies must be packing at all times. Yea, right. I hear about that happening all the time as well.....
Bottom line is, if she didn''t have a gun, she would be alive today.
Well, Mr Magoo... I guess it''s time for stronger glasses, or maybe you could just open your eyes as well as your mind, and think before you spew....

[patriot12436]

Yes i agree iot is too bad this lady lost her life. It isn''t fair but then life isn''t always fair. I hope her family can move on now after their tragic loss.

[patriot12436]

magoo2u2
I am retired from law enforcement and i believe everyone including police should be held to obey the laws. They made a mistake. If they had stood up at the first and admitted their mistake i think they would have been better off. Since they didn''t now they pay a price for it. Maybe the sentnce is too light foir the taking of a life but it is something. I don''t care she was black, i would say the same thing no matter what race was involved. I do think that the police get a bad rep a lot of the time when they dion''t deserve it, but i also believe justice has to be observed and held accoutable for.

[patriot12436]

b

[kindrox]

* i''''d assume ''''pansy assed morons'''' refer to liberals. can you explain how the liberals keep the black man down? i love this story. *

In part they firmly support racist gun control that were created for the sole purpose of keeping the black population from owning or carrying guns.

Ironically, many of those gun laws were eventually turned against poor whites in later times. Nothing good comes from supporting bad laws for bad purposes.

[bobnjersey]

[It''''s pansy assed morons like you that keep the black man down...]
[Posted by DylanXXV at 03:07 PM : May 22, 2008]

i''d assume ''pansy assed morons'' refer to liberals. can you explain how the liberals keep the black man down? i love this story.

[bobnjersey]

[They''''re human beings subject to the same flaws and frailties as other human beings, and are EQUALLY likely to err]
[Posted by clgl_fubar at 02:32 PM : May 22, 2008]

no doubt. the only problem is that they''ve got lots of lethal weapons in hand ... and they''re given the right to utilize them around others ... so when they ''err'' it can yield some problems.

it''s for this reason that they should be held to a higher standard than others.

[psk123-2009]

4 1/2 years is not much time for taking a life. Every cop involved with this case should have gotten more time.

It was a horrible mistake on their part, but to compound that with outright lies and attempting to make this poor old woman look bad in the eyes of the law as well as her community was even worse.

Shame, shame, shame on them all.

[magoo2u1]

I guess some morons don''t care that the woman was not a criminal and had not done anything wrong. Men crashed through her door without warning and she tried to defend herself. Some will back the government no matter what it does. Baaaa! Baaaaaaa! SHEEP!!!

[magoo2u1]

"oh yea, right... My 92 Y/O grandmother always carries a gun with her in the house for just such an occasion...
Posted by theeggman369"

THINK for minute you idiot. She lived in a bad neighborhood, had a gun for her protection, the COPS used a no-knock warrant. She thought they were criminals. Turned out she was right. Man, some of you sure are stupid.

[impeach_w]

also the police came to her home once cause they didn''t like her African violet light system. Lucky for them , they knocked....