Rookie cop lied like a pro for search warrants, says prosecutor

[WhiteFeather]

This is a two part story first one is from orginal incident in 2006 and the other from May 15 2008 in a court of law. Read the last line rookie worked in a corrupt police dept, say it ain't so......

http://www.gunweek.com/2006/atlanta1210.html

No Time-Share, Just Facts For Writers at SAF/NSSF Class
by Dave Workman
Senior Editor

Community outrage erupted in Atlanta, GA, over the killing of a 92-year-old woman in what was described as a drug raid by undercover narcotics officers, and the shooting sparked considerable debate in the firearms community about police operations that end up with the death of someone like the victim in this case.

Dead is Kathryn Johnston, who opened fire when police came through her door, and she wounded three officers before she was killed by return fire. Neighbors of Johnston flooded the telephone lines of state Rep. Mable Thomas (D-Atlanta), insisting the dead woman had no connection to drug activity.

And just days later, in New York City, undercover police officers fired at least 50 rounds into a car, killing an unarmed man and wounding his two companions outside of a strip club, where they were reportedly celebrating the dead man’s impending wedding. The victim in that shooting, Sean Bell, was to have been married hours later to his high school sweetheart, and the mother of his two children.

These shootings ignited a firestorm that reaches well beyond the two communities in which the killings occurred.

According to reports in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, local television stations and the Associated Press (AP), Johnston legally owned the handgun, described as a rusty revolver, with which she opened fire. She lived alone.

Gun rights activists on several chat lists and Internet forums wondered whether police acted on faulty information in the Atlanta case. Days after the shooting, Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington told The Journal-Constitution that the department will review its “no knock” warrants policy and how it uses confidential informants.

But it was more than “faulty information” that led to the fatal New York City shooting. Published reports in The New York Times, New York Post and New York Daily News said the first shots were fired by an undercover officer who allegedly believed that at least one of the men in Bell’s car had a gun, and there were reports that Bell’s car had struck an officer and an undercover police car.

Further complicating the New York case was the fact that Bell and his companions all had criminal records. According to The Post, Bell had been arrested twice for drugs and once on a firearms beef, about which records are sealed. Joseph Guzman, 31, has nine arrests on his record, including one for armed robbery, the newspaper said. He also spent time in prison twice during the 1990s. The third man, Trent Benefield, reportedly has a sealed juvenile record that included arrests for gun possession and robbery.

Wounded in the Atlanta shooting, according to AP, were Officers Gary Smith, Cary Bond and Gregg Junnier. All are expected to recover.

The Journal-Constitution reported that police said some marijuana was found inside Johnston’s home, and that in the past, drugs had been seized there.

Atlanta police claimed that a man identified as “Sam” had sold drugs to an informant earlier on the day of the fatal shooting. As a result, police sought a “no knock” warrant, according to the newspaper, so they could get into the house before any suspects had an opportunity to destroy drugs that might be on the premises.

But neighbors of the dead woman argued bitterly that she was not a drug dealer and that she lived alone.

Up in New York, with firebrand Rev. Al Sharpton stepping into the controversy, police were bombarded with questions about why officers had to fire so many rounds.

The white detective who squeezed off 31 of 50 shots at three unarmed men outside the Queens strip joint had a clean record, never fired his gun in the line of duty and was known as a good street cop, The Daily News reported.

His unblemished history left fellow officers puzzled over what led the 12-year veteran to get down on one knee and empty two magazines on the darkened Queens street early on Nov. 25.

“He lost it. Four or five rounds—maybe. But to reload? It’s hard to understand. Even in the heat of the moment, it’s overkill,” a law enforcement source told The Daily News.

In all, seven plainclothes officers were involved in what should have been a textbook prostitution sting as part of the city’s effort to shutter the Kalua Cabaret.

But the NYPD had interviewed only two cops as this report was written—the ones who did not fire: an undercover detective who remained outside the club and a lieutenant who ducked behind the dashboard of his unmarked car when bullets flew.

Questioning the officers who fired falls to the Queens district attorney’s office, which sources said plans to present the case to a grand jury. Of the five officers, two are white, two are black and one is Hispanic.

Aside from the 12-year vet, the other officers involved in the shooting are:
An undercover Hispanic officer with five years on the job who fired first and shot 11 rounds.
A five-year veteran who fired three times.
A 17-year veteran who fired four times.
A nine-year veteran who fired once.
In the firearms community, reaction was immediate, but not entirely critical toward police.

“The thing that bothers me about both of these incidents,” said Syd Weedon of Louisville, KY, in an e-mail to Gun Week, “is the fact that the action was initiated by police officers in plain clothes, not uniforms.…I think there is absolutely a place for plain clothes in police work, such as investigations and surveillance, but for other types of police work, uniforms should be required. How do you know that the guy running out of the darkness at you with a gun is a police officer if he is dressed in civilian clothes? I also think that officers doing dynamic entries should be uniformed. Anyone can yell ‘police’ when they’re kicking down your door. If people can see that these are definitely uniformed officers, they will be less likely to panic and do the wrong thing.”

On the KeepAndBearArms.com forum, at least two activists promised to post the names and addresses of allegedly bad cops, while others suggested that police have “a license to kill” and that if New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is serious about banning handguns in the city, he needs to start with the police. Others on the forum engaged in considerable vitriol toward police.

None of the newspapers were very quick to identify officers involved in the New York incident, possibly because at least two of them were working undercover.

On The High Road, there were strong disagreements over the nature, and the circumstances, of the New York shooting. Some participants in at least three different discussions took the police side while others held quite the opposite view. There did not seem to be much in-between.

It was noted by the newspapers in New York that Bloomberg called Bell’s heartbroken fiancé and also promised a full investigation.

In Georgia, that state’s Bureau of Investigation was asked by the Fulton County District Attorney’s office to investigate the Johnston shooting, which could continue for several weeks.


http://www.ajc.com/search/content/me...sler_0516.html

Rookie cop lied like a pro for search warrants, says prosecutor

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 05/15/08

Atlanta Police Detective Arthur Bruce Tesler presented himself as a rookie narcotics officer but even he lied like a pro, prosecutors said.

Assistant District Attorney Kellie Hill made that point to a Fulton County jury this morning before it was to start deciding Tesler's fate for his role in the killing of a 92-year-old woman.

Recent headlines:


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• Atlanta and Fulton County news


"Mrs. Johnston is dead because of a lie," Hill said. "No, he didn't pull the trigger."

In a case where the jury has to decide whether it believes Tesler's testimony that he didn't know a search warrant was illegal and later he felt forced to participate in the cover up, Hill reminded the jury he lied to the FBI.

She also made it when Tesler was on the witness stand Wednesday when she asked about his recorded statement in an FBI investigation of Kathryn Johnston's death.

"You heard your voice when you were lying to the FBI," Hill said. "Is there anything about your voice that would have let Agent [Joe] Robuck know that you were lying?"

"I don't believe so," Tesler responded.

"So tell me, how am I supposed to know when you're telling the truth?" Hill asked.

Tesler, 42, is the only officer to face a jury regarding his actions on Nov. 21, 2006, when his narcotics team conducted a raid at 933 Neal Street and killed Kathryn Johnston. The team had been told a drug dealer named "Sam" operated from the house and had a kilo of cocaine but it lied to a judge by saying it verified its informant's information. The team was fired on by the elderly Johnston when knocking down her door.

The Fulton Superior Court jury is to start deliberating this afternoon on whether Tesler is guilty of violating his oath of office, lying in an official investigation and false imprisonment for surrounding the Johnston house during an illegal search.

Tesler, who had been a narcotics detective for a short time, told the jury that his former partners Gregg Junnier and Jason "J.R." Smith planned the cover up of the wrongdoing that led to Johnston's death. He said they routinely took shortcuts around the law to get warrants in order to make arrest quotas.

Defense lawyer William McKenney argued that the real culprits were Tesler's more experienced partners, Junnier and Smith, who had faced murder charges and have pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

"This is a tragedy, that is certain," McKenney said.

"One tragedy happened by mistake.... Don't ruin this officer, don't ruin his family.

"I think what we have to consider is what this unit was all about before Arthur Tesler got there."

McKenney reminded jurors of testimony that described rampant lying for warrants in the narcotics unit, where drugs were planted in residences when raids didn't turn up any and on suspects to extort information. He noted that the entire culture of the police department encouraged the lying by setting near impossible quotas that officers had to meet for drugs or search warrants.

Hill said such arguments were a distraction.

Mr. McKenney said you have to consider his client's frame of mind, that the department was corrupt from the top down," Hill said. "Well he (Tesler) chose to be part of that corruption."

[tes151]

They should all do long hard time. But, I wouldn't hold your breath.

[knighthawk06699]

Murder is murder put them all away, cause I know damn well that if we fired 31 rounds at some one in a justified case we would be going to jail. These people should be held to a much higher standard and it seems they are not. How is one supposed to put trust into our LEO's when they act in a manner as such?? How ever I am still sorta wondering what the 3 hooligans in the NY case where doing out on the streets?

[ChrisF4i]

[COLOR="Blue"]
And just days later, in New York City, undercover police officers fired at least 50 rounds into a car, killing an unarmed man and wounding his two companions outside of a strip club, where they were reportedly celebrating the dead man’s impending wedding. The victim in that shooting, Sean Bell, was to have been married hours later to his high school sweetheart, and the mother of his two children.

He was a gang member and they tried to run over the officer, F him.

[jon'76]

Plain clothes = random threatening asshole

uniform = respect

[tmg19103]

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.....

[Charlie B]

Murder is murder put them all away, cause I know damn well that if we fired 31 rounds at some one in a justified case we would be going to jail. These people should be held to a much higher standard and it seems they are not. How is one supposed to put trust into our LEO's when they act in a manner as such?? How ever I am still sorta wondering what the 3 hooligans in the NY case where doing out on the streets?

Absolutely! LEOs must be held to a much higher standard than civilians and many times they are not.

[JoeWilliams]

Ok. Ya'll win. I hate cops. Those dirty, dirty pigs. I hate cops.

Yaaawwwwnnnn.