Last fall, I posted about the killing of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston when some Atlanta Police officers executed a no-knock warrant on her home, claiming there were drugs on the premises. Thinking that her home was being broken into, Johnston defended herself and fired aa shot at the door of her home but, not hitting any officers (remember, this was a no-knock so, they didn’t identify themselves as officers before bursting in). The officers fired back 39 times, hitting Ms. Johnston with 5-6 of those shots, killing her.

In the aftermath of the killing, the officers’ story began to crumble and it appears that they were lying to cover up a botched raid and the fact that they lied to obtain the warrant in the first place. Because they killed an innocent civilian, they were brought up on murder charges.

Yesterday, there was some closure to this situation. Two of the officers, J.R. Smith and Gregg Junnier, entered guilty pleas for “manslaughter, violation of oath, criminal solicitation, making false statements.” Smith also pleaded guilty to perjury. Smith faces 12 years in prison, Junnier faces 10 years.

A third officer, Arthur Tesler, is charged with “violation of oath by a public officer, making false statements and false imprisonment under color of legal process.” Tesler plans on going to trial.

This issue has shed light on the use of no-knock warrants and their danger to public. This would not be the first time the police burst into the wrong house in executing a warrant. I hope that Ms. Johnston’s death will not be in vain and we can look hard at the dangers associated with this practice.

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