Saturday, February 28, 2009

ATLANTA ROGUE COPS WHO GUNNED DOWN 92 YEAR OLD WOMAN IN COLD BLOOD SENTENCED TO SLAMMER

Atlanta Cops Sentenced in Botched Raid & Ruthless Shooting of 92 Y/O Woman
By Kate Brumback
Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA — A federal judge sentenced three former Atlanta police officers to prison Tuesday for their part in a botched drug raid that ended with the death of an elderly woman in a hail of gunfire. Jason R. Smith, Gregg Junnier and Arthur Tesler received sentences ranging from five years to 10. Kathryn Johnston, 92, was killed by police gunfire during the 2006 raid at her home. After receiving an incorrect tip from a known drug dealer, police used a "no-knock" warrant to enter Johnston's house to look for drugs. As they tried to break in, Johnston fired a single shot through the door with a rusty revolver and the officers fired 39 bullets in return.

Prosecutors say officers found no drugs inside the house and tried to cover up the mistake by planting baggies of marijuana.U.S. District Judge Julie E. Carnes sentenced Smith to 10 years in federal prison. She sentenced Junnier to six years and Tesler to five. Prosecutors lowered their recommended sentences for Junnier, 42, and Smith, 36. They asked for about 10 years for Smith and five or six years for Junnier because they said the men cooperated with authorities. They did not, however, lower their recommended sentence — about 10 years — for Tesler, 42.

The judge said Tuesday she agreed that Smith should have the longest sentence because he provided false information in a sworn statement to secure the no-knock warrant and participated extensively in a cover-up after the incident. Junnier, the senior of the three, played the biggest role in an ongoing and systematic violation of rules that eventually led to Johnston's death on Nov. 21, 2006, Carnes said. She said she had some reservations about the prosecution's generosity toward Junnier, which was based on the fact that he told the truth first and cooperated extensively with the government. But she decided to follow prosecution guidelines and give him a substantial reduction.

The judge said Tesler was a "minor participant overall" and lowered his sentence to five years. She said the government's recommendations for him were "unduly harsh."All the men will receive credit for time already served and will get three years supervised release after they serve their sentences. Carnes also ordered them to split the cost of reimbursing Johnston's estate $8,180 for funeral and burial expenses.

U.S. attorney David Nahmias said after the hearing that the incident has had two positive outcomes. First, it led Atlanta police to reform training and supervision and to revamp their narcotics unit. Second, the sentences send a "strong message" to other police officers who might be tempted to break the law.

The Rev. Markel Hutchins, spokesman for Johnston's family, spoke by telephone to her niece and closest living relative, Sarah Dozier, 76, of Atlanta after the sentencing. " She certainly breathed a sigh of relief that there is nearly some resolution, particularly with regard to these officers," he said. Hutchins said Dozier was sympathetic to the officers' families because she believes they were victims as well. "Her aspiration has always been justice and not a sense of revenge," he said.

The three men earlier had each pleaded guilty to the federal charge of conspiring to violate Johnston's civil rights. Smith and Junnier also pleaded guilty to state charges, including manslaughter. They are set to be sentenced on those charges next month. Under their plea agreements, their state sentences will be served concurrently with their federal punishment. Tesler was sentenced in May to four and a half years in prison on a state charge for lying to FBI agents, but that conviction was overturned on appeal last month. Tesler, who did not fire a shot, was in Johnston's back yard when plainclothes officers burst in through the front door.

Carnes on Monday heard emotional, often tearful, testimony from the three former officers and their friends and family. She said she was touched by the "wrenching" stories and believes all three are good men who used bad judgment. She said she thinks they will be able to live good lives and redeem themselves after serving their sentences. Lawyers for all three men said they had hoped for lesser sentences but praised the judge for weighing the facts in the case. "There are no winners in this case," said Smith's attorney, John Garland. "There are only losers."

ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT HARBORS MORE ROGUE COPS THAN INITIALLY THOUGHT, ATLANTA POLICE CHIEF PENNING MAKES MORE EXCUSES...

Atlanta Police Chief Denies Widespread Atlanta Police Misconduct
Attorney says unreleased FBI report identifies more officers who cut corners
By Tim Eberly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The day after three of his former officers were sentenced to federal prison in the death of an elderly woman, Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington denied accusations of widespread corruption and arrest quotas in his department. At Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Bill McKenney, the attorney for one of the convicted officers, talked about misconduct inside the Atlanta department being more pervasive and not isolated to the narcotics unit that was responsible for the shooting death of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston in November 2006.

“I don’t believe that, and I’ve worked in corrupt police departments before,” Pennington said. McKenney also said an FBI report, now in the custody of the Atlanta Police Department, found officers in some units were expected to get nine arrests and two search warrants each month. “We have no quota system in the police department,” Pennington said. “And I know that for a fact.” When asked why neither he nor other high-ranking officers knew about misconduct in the narcotics unit, Pennington described the rogue officers’ behavior as isolated.

U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes sentenced former officers Gregg Junnier, Jason R. Smith and Arthur Bruce Tesler to prison terms for the illegal drug raid that resulted in Johnston’s death. Smith was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while Junnier got six and Tesler received five.

“It was very tough to see,” Pennington said. “We’ve gone through a lot of pain in the Atlanta Police Department.”

The FBI’s report, according to McKenney, also identifies at least three other officers who cut corners and might have broken the law, though they have not been charged with crimes. Both the FBI and the Atlanta Police Department have refused to release the report. Atlanta police in November denied an Open Records Act request from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
seeking the report.

The FBI has deferred to Atlanta police. On Wednesday, when asked for the report, Pennington deferred to the FBI.

“Can’t you get it from the FBI, too?” he asked. When pressed further, he said he would “probably release it real soon.

33% OF ATLANTA'S NEW POLICE OFFICERS HAVE CRIMINAL RECORDS!

One in Three Recent Atlanta Police Academy Graduates Have Criminal Records
By Tim Eberly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, October 12, 2008

Keovongsa Siharath was arrested in Henry County on charges he punched his stepfather. Jeffrey Churchill was charged with assault in an altercation with a woman in a mall parking lot. Calvin Thomas was taken into custody in DeKalb County on a concealed weapons charge. All three are now officers with the Atlanta Police Department.

More than one-third of recent Atlanta Police Academy graduates have been arrested or cited for a crime, according to a review of their job applications. The arrests ranged from minor offenses such as shoplifting to violent charges including assault. More than one-third of the officers had been rejected by other law enforcement agencies, and more than half of the recruits admitted using marijuana.

“On its face, it’s troubling and disturbing,” said Vincent Fort, a state senator from Atlanta. “It would be very troubling that people might be hitting the streets to serve and protect and they have histories that have made them unqualified to serve on other departments.” But Atlanta police say it’s not so simple. Officials have been trying without success for more than a decade to grow the department to 2,000 officers, an effort hurt by this year’s budget crisis. With competition for recruits intense among law enforcement agencies, Atlanta has had to make concessions.

“We would like, in an ideal world, to see every applicant with a clean record, but obviously that’s not reality,” said Atlanta police Lt. Elder Dancy, who runs the department’s recruitment unit. “I don’t think you’ll find any departments who hire only applicants with squeaky-clean records.”
Three decades ago, a police officer with a criminal record was much less common than it is now, said Robert Friedmann, a criminal justice professor at Georgia State University. But times have changed and many agencies have had to relax their hiring policies, Friedmann said.

Other local police agencies have hiring guidelines similar to Atlanta’s. Police departments for Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties don’t hire recruits with felony convictions but do hire those with misdemeanor arrests, on a case-by-case basis. Dancy would not divulge all of Atlanta’s restrictions but said the department won’t hire anyone with felony convictions, or those with convictions for obstruction of justice, sex or domestic crimes. Even so, police documents show that many of their recruits have blemishes on their records.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, through an Open Records Act request, asked in mid-August for the job applications of the Atlanta Police Department’s two most recent graduating classes. The department provided 36 applications for police recruits who graduated June 10 and Aug. 4. All the graduates are currently Atlanta police officers. The most revealing portion of the application is a questionnaire that includes some probing questions:
Have you ever used marijuana?
Have you ever been with a prostitute?
Have you ever driven under the influence of alcohol or drugs?
And: Have you ever been physically arrested or cited with criminal charges?
Twelve out of 33 officers — 36 percent — said they have been arrested or cited with a criminal offense.

“It does not mean they’re not a quality candidate,” Dancy said, adding that the department runs criminal background checks on all recruits. “It just means they made a mistake in their past.”

Officer Siharath was taken to the Henry County Jail in December 2005 after an altercation with his stepfather at his family’s home in Stockbridge, according to a police report. Siharath, then 24, returned home to find his stepfather moving his belongings back into his mother’s house. He told his stepfather to leave, but the older man refused, the report said. They argued, then Siharath pushed the man onto the floor and punched him in the head, the stepfather and Siharath’s mother told police. The battery charge against Siharath was later dropped in court. Siharath could not be reached for comment on the incident, and Atlanta police would not make him available for an interview.

A decade earlier, Officer Thomas was arrested during a traffic stop in DeKalb County on charges of having a concealed weapon, he wrote in his job application. The officer asked Thomas “if I had any weapons in the car, [and] I stated yes,” he wrote. “The officer asked where, and I told him under the seat. I was arrested for a misdemeanor — carrying a concealed weapon.” Thomas, who paid a fine and spent a year on probation, declined to comment for this article.
Officer Churchill wrote that he was arrested in December 1995 on a charge of fourth-degree assault. Without getting into much detail, he wrote that he got into an argument with a woman in a mall parking lot, received two years of probation and an order to pay a $71 fine. Churchill could not be reached for comment on the incident, and Atlanta police would not make him available for an interview.

Friedmann, the criminal justice professor, said he “would have hoped the number of recruits with prior arrests or criminal citations would be lower.” He and another criminal justice professor, Peter Fenton of Kennesaw State University, say the arrest numbers are not as significant when three factors are considered: the severity of the incident, how long ago it happened and whether it resulted in conviction. With those factors considered, “your numbers will probably drop to about half of that,” Friedmann said.

The AJC could not analyze all those factors because recruits sometimes gave incomplete answers on the application. Fenton, a former Cobb County police officer, said he was more concerned with the AJC’s next finding: Twelve out of 33 graduates — 36 percent — acknowledged that they had been rejected by other law enforcement agencies, including some in metro Atlanta. “That, frankly, is more troubling to me — especially when these people have been rejected by multiple agencies,” he said.

Three officers’ rejections stemmed from failing the psychiatric or psychological portion of police agencies’ screening processes. Others were turned away because they failed lie-detector tests or offered conflicting statements about issues such as drug use. Dancy said those issues raise red flags, but what matters most is whether recruits can pass the Atlanta Police Department’s tests and interviews. When asked whether the department was getting top-shelf candidates, Dancy said, “as long as those applicants meet the guidelines, then we feel like we are hiring the type of officers who are [fit to be] Atlanta police officers.”

Officer Mark Moore applied for jobs with other police agencies before graduating from the Atlanta Police Academy. He tried to get a job with Atlanta police in 2004 but was rejected. He also failed a written test for the Knoxville police. When he applied to another police department in 2002, “their psychologist deemed me to be ‘psychologicaly incompatable’ [sic] for the LAPD,” he wrote in his Atlanta job application. Moore declined to comment when reached by phone.

More than half the graduates admitted using marijuana, though many said they did it only a few times during their high school or college years.

News researchers Nisa Asokan and Sharon Gaus and former data analyst Megan Clarke contributed to this report.

DISGRACED DEKALB COUNTY POLICE DETECTIVE PLEADS GUILTY TO STEALING CASH & LOTTERY TICKETS, BOOTED OFF POLICE FORCE!

DeKalb Ex-Cop Admits To Stealing Cash, Lottery Tickets
Updated 2/19/2009 7:19:55 PM
Posted By: The Associated Press

DECATUR, Ga. (AP) -- A former DeKalb County police detective has been sentenced to three years of probation for stealing cash and lottery tickets from a convenience store being searched by vice officers. District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming says 40-year-old Anthony A. Robinson pleaded guilty Thursday to violation of oath of public office. She says Robinson also must pay $300 in restitution and serve 250 hours of community service.

The DA's office says Robinson was caught on surveillance video at a CITGO Food Mart during the July 5 search stuffing cash from an evidence bag into his pants pocket and placing $20 worth of lottery tickets into a folder he was carrying.

The search followed a report of gambling with cash payouts at the store.

CORRUPTION AT DEKALB SHERIFF'S OFFICE - BUSINESS AS USUAL....

DeKalb Official, Two Others Indicted in Bail Bond Scam
Group preyed on people who spoke poor English
By David Simpson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, February 26, 2009

Two Atlanta men who claimed they were helping people get bond refunds conspired with a manager in the DeKalb County sheriff’s office to steal $350,000, a grand jury alleged Thursday.
A DeKalb grand jury indicted Nathane Hoyte Jones, 42, Shandarrick Barnes, 33, and Dorcas Jernigan, no age available, of Decatur. They are charged under a state racketeering law for a conspiracy, which included theft, forgery, bribery and false swearing.

Jernigan was the manager of an office that issued refunds to people who had posted bonds for criminal suspects, said Sheriff Thomas Brown. Brown said Jones and Barnes ran a company offering to help clients, many of whom spoke little English, retrieve bond money. They are accused of forging signatures of non-clients with Jernigan’s help.

“We became aware of it when one of these individuals was written a check for $38,000 … but in this particular case, the father showed up who had put up the cash bond for the son” about a month later, Brown said.

Jernigan has been fired, Brown said. District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming said a related scheme took $61,000 from Cobb County.