Senseless killing still casts shadow on police

Two years later, the Kathryn Johnston case is back where it started —- with the Atlanta Police Department.

The November 2006 killing of the 92-year-old woman by a rogue drug squad in her own home has been solved. Early on, federal investigators echoed suspicions of the community that such corruption was widespread. But in closing the investigation, they now say the wrongdoing was more isolated. Atlanta police last week said they were starting a task force to investigate internal wrongdoing.

Yet questions persist. Narcotics officers told investigators they cut corners, faked search warrants, planted drugs and raided homes because of pressure from superiors to make arrests. There were complaints from other officers that there were performance quotas, a charge higher-ups always denied.

But there never has been a public explanation about whether allegations about pressure from superiors were accurate, and if so, who was applying it. Also, did any higher-ups know how the drug unit operated? Or why they didn’t know?

“There were thoughts this would uncover a huge ring of corruption in the Police Department. It never did,” said William McKenney, an attorney for narcotics officer Arthur Tesler, who late last month pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with Johnston’s death. “The nine and two was the catalyst —- the nine arrests and two warrants each officer was required to get [each month].

“It’s difficult to stay within a quota and abide by the rules,” McKenney said. “[The federal investigation] never addressed the question of where they came up with the numbers and why there was no accountability in that unit. That was the real failure. This investigation addressed the symptoms, not the cause. It’s difficult to believe this corrupt unit could be functioning at the rate it did without no one over the rank of sergeant knowing about it.”

Others, such as state Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), say the full findings of the investigation that were turned over to the Atlanta police need to be made public.

“We need to know what is the culture that created this,” Fort said. “Why were these men so comfortable doing this? It’s frustrating two years later. We don’t know how systematic the problems are. Or aren’t.”

In all, five officers were convicted of crimes. Three —- Tesler, Gregg Junnier and Jason R. Smith —- pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating civil rights, and they await sentencing. Their supervisor, Sgt. Wilbert Stallings, pleaded guilty to federal charges concerning another case. Another officer was convicted of extortion charges unconnected to the Johnston case.

At least three other officers have been suspended as a result of the federal probe.

“We ran across other people who appeared to have broken rules,” U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said Friday. He said those instances could bring about internal departmental sanctions such as suspensions, reprimands and firings, or they could lead to state criminal charges.

Last year, Nahmias said federal investigators “will dig until we can find whatever we can.” He added the Police Department “must look to reform itself,” although that process would need “ongoing public scrutiny” to make sure it occurred.

On Friday, Nahmias, who expects no further federal cases, said the corruption “was not as extensive as we feared.”

Concerning the question of motives of the unit to go bad or pressures from the top, Nahmias said, “There may be more on that coming from APD later.”

Nahmias said one motive was simple: “It’s just easier to do your job as a narcotics officer if you just don’t follow the rules.”

A police spokesman said Chief Richard Pennington was not available for an interview Friday.

Earlier in the week, he said the department’s task force “will make recommendations directly to me as to any administrative action which should be taken against any other members of this department.”

Both the city and federal authorities said they would not release the findings of the investigation.

Earlier, police disbanded the drug unit, and about a year ago it filled the ranks of a newly created unit with different officers.

The city also reconstituted the Civilian Review Board, which recently hired a director and is now starting to review citizen complaints against the department, said Sharese Shields, the board’s chairwoman.

The department made it more difficult to obtain the so-called “no-knock” warrants, which allowed drug teams to bust through a door and surprise suspects. The drug team bursting through Johnston’s home frightened the woman, causing her to fire a revolver at the intruders. They returned 39 shots.

The Rev. Markel Hutchins, who has represented Johnston’s family since the killing, said he has been generally satisfied with the federal investigation of the killing itself. But, he added, the public has never been given “a true accounting” of why the narcotics officers acted the way they did and what their superiors knew.

The family has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the city and the department.

Rand Csehy, a former Fulton County drug prosecutor who was Junnier’s defense attorney, was often critical of the motives of the Police Department and state prosecutors as the investigation proceeded.

But last week, he was more reflective. “At the end of the day,” he said, “it ends where it begins.”