WSB's Veronica Waters reports lawyers for three officers have been informed that Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard will take the case of Kathryn Johnston's shooting before a grand jury February 26. The proposed indictment would include 17 charges, including felony murder, burglary, aggravated assault, making false statements, violation of oath of office and criminal solicitation.

Newly retired Atlanta police officer Gregg Junnier has been cooperating with the federally-led joint investigation into Johnston's death. He has told authorities that in order to get the no-knock warrant 933 for Neal Street, the officers lied to a magistrate in saying that an informant had made a cocaine buy at that address. They targeted the home after acting off a tip from a recently arrested dealer.

Rand Csehy, a former assistant Fulton County district attorney who prosecuted narcotics cases, is now a defense attorney and is representing Junnier.

"We were not surprised," Csehy tells WSB. "We've been hearing the saber rattling out of the D. A.'s office for a couple of weeks now."

The notices to attorneys for the officers came one day after Howard exchanged open letters to Reverend Markel Hutchins, the spokesman for Johnston's family, after Hutchins publicly called on Howard's office to recuse itself from the investigation. Hutchins says the case is too far-reaching for local authorities.

"I will tell you emphatically that Ms. Johnston's death and the circumstances surrounding Ms. Johnston's death had very little to do with the personnel on the scene and everything to do with the policies that were in place and not enforced," Hutchins tells WSB.

Calling Johnston's death "outrageous," Howard's letter emphasized that it is "the obligation" of his office to act when homicides occur in Fulton County.

"The death of Mrs. Johnston constitutes one of the greatest tragedies ever to occur in Fulton County. I will not rest until every person responsible for her death is held accountable. Accordingly, my Office will continue to work jointly with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the F.B.I. and the G.B.I. to conclude this investigation," Howard wrote.

Yet the U. S. Attorney's office and the FBI say they were not notified by the D. A.'s office that Howard was notifying the officers of possible indictments against them Wednesday.

"We were cooperating with this joint investigation, and we're saddened by the fact that the district attorney's office has decided to break with the joint investigation, it's my understanding, with this pre-emptive indictment," says Csehy. "All our good works, everything that we were—that the investigation was trying to accomplish—apparently has been thwarted at this point."

Csehy calls the indictment, which would levy 10 to 17 charges against Junnier--an 18-year veteran of the APD--and narcotics officers Arthur Tesler and Jason Smith, "overbroad' and says prosecutors will not be able to find facts to support it. Csehy says he and Junnier have steeled themselves for battle.

"We will fight this; there will be a trial in this case. We will not plead to anything, we will not cooperate with the Fulton district attorney's office. We will not admit to anything; there's nothing in these charges to be admitted to," contends Csehy.

He also emphatically responded, "absolutely not" when asked whether Johnston's death was, in fact, a murder by any Atlanta police officers. He says the narcotics officers believed there were drugs in Johnston's house and that someone other than Johnston lived there and sold cocaine at that address.

"The shame of this and the heart of this is the intelligence they'd gotten did not even tell them that Kathryn Johnston was even living there," Csehy says. "At the worst, this is sloppy police work, or police work done under pressure to make arrests. But to say there's malfeasance here? Absolutely not."

Johnston, whose family says she was 92, was killed in a shootout with police who burst into her home one night in November. She kept a gun in case of break-ins, and began firing when she heard the door being kicked in. Junnier and two other officers on the seven-member team were wounded. Prosecutors say a couple of the officers then went to an informant and asked him to lie and say that he had made a buy at that address.

When the case goes before the grand jury, the officers are allowed to hear the presentment and to make statements to the panel if they choose.

Thursday, 8 February 2007