Marijuana confirmed in home of 92 year old woman in Atl, GA.

[Blackfork]

92 Year old lived alone.

Art: The word is, pretty conclusively, that this woman lived alone and was very fearful. She had the house barricaded and never came out after dusk. The SWAT team made a racket tearing the burglar bars off the front door which SOUNDS like it gave her time to get armed and get in position. The raid went down at 7:00pm. That's full dark in Atlanta this time of year, but not late.

It further SOUNDS like the informants drug buy was made off her front porch or the sidewalk.

They are saying they found a "small amount" of marijuana in her house. We'll see what that means....maybe. There are no 92 year old female, black drug dealers in Atlanta, or anywhere else, period.

 

[dustind]

So if you really care, aim your Mark I keyboard toward your Congresscritter. Aim it at your state legislator. Aim it at your mayor and city council, as well as your local newspaper.

Art Eatmen: Please tell us what you do for the cause? I bet many new people could benefit from your experience. Also why do you assume that no one else writes their represenatives?

I love the idea of ad campaigns, but others have been blocked in the past from doing so. I am not sure how hard it would be if you wanted to run tv ads for instance.

 

[benEzra]

On a serious note, terminally ill patients in the US are often denied adequate morphine because their doctors are worried about them getting addicted. Anyone who has had an elderly relative die of a slow terminal disease knows what I'm talking about. Better for an old grandmother to suffer in death than to become an addict!

I agree with the other posters, that the doctors are way more worried about the DEA than about any harm to the patient.

In a medical setting, "morphine dependency" is not the end of the world. My son became morphine dependent at age 4 after complications with a major heart surgery left him on the ventilator (and the postop morphine) a lot longer than normal, days. Then, to get him off the vent, he had to go "cold turkey" (no methadone, no adavan, to start with, eventually added a little tapering-dose methadone after a day or two). He had the chills, the tremors, felt like heck for weeks, but he got over it. And it was a heck of a lot better than if he had been left to feel the severed, wired-up pieces of his sternum grinding together every time he breathed.

I'm just thankful he was at a hospital (Boston Children's) that takes pediatric pain management seriously.

 

[jcoiii]

When I watched the first press conference given by the APD spokesman, he laid out the basic timeline like this:

Undercover officer bought an amount of marijuana from a younger man at that residence. Officers (presumably in the drug task force) went to a local judge and requested a search warrant for that house. Officers in tactical gear from the DTF, and one uniformed officer in a marked patrol vehicle, returned to the house to serve the warrant. The task force agents were wearing body armor with the word POLICE on the front and back. They went to the door, announced who they were, did not knock, and entered the residence. The spokesman was unclear as to how the door was opened. As the officers entered the house, they were fired upon by the 92 year old woman and returned fire.

This raid/warrant was not about this old woman and her marijuana. It was about searching for this dealer and his stash of drugs. The above was garnered from the press conference given last Tuesday or Wednesday by the Atlanta PD.

You may resume the discussion about the war on drugs in general now.

 

[jnojr]

OH DEAR GOD not marijuana!!!

 

[bogie]

Yeah, that stuff will get you killed...

Note to self: If the business at hand is distribution of unlicensed pharmaceuticals, always do it on someone else's yard...

 

[Skywarp]

Jnojr,

I'm appalled you said just Marijuana. Don't you know it will lead to deeper things like getting fat, watching spongebob square pants, and sleeping all day.


Yeah pot is illegal but are LEO lives and public safety worth this scenario. hell no. They could have just as easily knocked on the door, announced who they were and brought her in based on the fact pot was sold from her house earlier and possibly solved the case. Went out to the local cop bar had a few drinks (Alcohol a legal drug more addictive than pot and just as big of a public threat) and went home to their familes to do it again the next day

 

[Liberal Gun Nut]

It's great that they shot her. Marijuana is a killer plant that would have turned everyone in the neighborhood into brain-eating zombies if she had smoked it. They should shoot her a few more times just to be on the safe side. When you're talking about MARIJUANA you just don't want to take any chances.

Shooting this 93-year-old woman was yet another glorious victory in a long and glorious war! I commend the valliant, heroic actions of these three officers who, while wearing bullet-resistant vests and probably armed with, I don't know, M4s or whatever, busted down her door and shot this 93-year-old menace to society. Give them a medal and a promotion!

 

[OldBillThundercheif]

Glaucoma, arthritis, migraines, nausea, lack of appetite due to chemotherapy / chronic diseases... there are lots of good reasons why the lady may have had some scraggley plant-matter laying around.

Unfortunately the feds don't take kindly to dope under any circumstances. Have y'all seen the video of agents taking cancer patients with doctor's prescriptions for marijuana into custody in CA? Good thing they went out of their way to get these dangerous dope-freaks off the street...

Federal law trumps state law and no politician with a brain is going to support medical marijuana. It would make them look "soft on crime" and that's political suicide.

This has nothing to do with this story but it irritates me. I have had several family members die malnourished and in agony because they were unwilling to use an illegal drug to make their end more tolerable, and nobody who matters is doing anything to change the law.

I am no hippy, but if I ever get to the point where reefer will increase my quality of life... pass it on over to me.

 

[Liberal Gun Nut]

Now that I'm thinking about it, I think they should put a pole right there on her street and put her head up on it, as a message to all the other baby-raping 93-year-old dope fiends who are considering smoking some MARIJUANA. Seeing the head of this 93-year-old grandmother on a pike would really teach them: this war on drugs is working, so you better watch out!

 

[MechAg94]

If they are primarily looking for the guy, I would ask again why they needed a no-knock warrant and couldn't just knock on the door until someone answered.

Maybe they could shut off the water to prevent flushing it?

 

[jerkface11]

Whatever happened to

"WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR"
??
Or did that go out with T.J. Hooker?

 

[bogie]

No knock warrants usually get better results - i.e., better news coverage, which results in poltiicians getting reelected. I mean, it'd have to be a really slow news day if all they were covering was "Well, we mailed the old lady a summons to appear because her property was being used to sell wacky weed."

Bet they try to steal her house from her heirs too.

 

[Derby FALs]

Informant in shooting says he never bought drugs at house
Says he was asked to lie

By SAEED AHMED
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 11/27/06

The confidential informant on whose word Atlanta police raided the house of an 88-year-old woman is now saying he never purchased drugs from her house and was told by police to lie and say he did.

Chief Richard Pennington, in a press conference Monday evening, said his department learned two days ago that the informant — who has been used reliably in the past by the narcotics unit -- denied providing information to officers about a drug deal at 933 Neal Street in northwest Atlanta.

"The informant said he had no knowledge of going into that house and purchasing drugs," Pennington said. "We don't know if he's telling the truth."

The search warrant used by Atlanta police to raid the house says that a confidential informant had bought crack cocaine at the residence, using $50 in city funds, several hours before the raid.

In the document, officers said that the informant told them the house had surveillance cameras that the suspected drug dealer, called "Sam," monitored.

Pennington on Monday evening said the informant told the Internal Affairs Unit hat he did not tell officers that the house had surveillance equipment, and that he was asked to lie.

The Chief still maintained that "Sam," the alleged drug dealer, "actually exists."

Pennington was joined at the press conference by representatives from various law enforcement agencies who are now looking into the shooting.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also been called in to investigate.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, at the request of the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, is also looking into the incident, including examining the home to determine how many gunshots were fired in the confrontation.

Kathryn Johnston was killed Tuesday night when she fired at officers seeking to serve a warrant. They had broken down the front door and exchanged gunfire with Johnston.

Police later claimed a man named "Sam" had sold drugs from inside the house to an informant, prompting the officers to seek a "no-knock" warrant. Such warrants are frequently issued so police can get inside a home before suspects can destroy or flush drugs.

Johnston --- described by neighbors and family as a frightened woman who had burglar bars on her windows and door and rarely let friends and neighbors into her home --- had lived at the one-story brick home near the Georgia Dome for 17 years.

The police chief said officers found marijuana inside the house but "not a large quantity." The officers were not wearing uniforms but had on bulletproof vests with "Police" emblazoned across the front and back. And they identified themselves as they burst through the doors, police said.

Johnston grabbed a rusty six-shot revolver and emptied it. Five shots struck the officers, hitting one of them three times. The other two were each hit once. The officers returned fire, shooting Johnston twice in the chest and elsewhere, police have said.

The three officers were released from the hospital the next day. They are on leave with pay.

Funeral plans for Johnston have not been made.

 

[dave_pro2a]

Bogie: "Bet they try to steal her house from her heirs too."

Ding ding ding, winner! They have a financial incentive, confiscation. It doesn't even require due process, property can typically be confiscated and sold at auction prior to a conviction of the charge.

Removing the financial incentive surrounding the WoD and no-knock warrents would go a long way to solving the problem.

 

[Skywarp]

So a woman was shot for a now warrantless (ie: no real evidence) warrant.


I hope the judge and commanding officer go to jail.....the bad parts of jail....you know....with the soap dropping....and beatings.

 

[dave_pro2a]

Well, that new information is sickening.

To view the actual article w/o registering for the newspaper go to

http://www.ajc.com/

and use www.bugmenot.com to get a username and password.

 

[jeepmor]

She was 90 plus

They broke down her door in a bad, bad neighborhood. And she shot at them, sounds like something any one of us could conceivably do thinking we were being invaded by a bunch of thugs. She hit three of them, sounds like she knew what she was doing, and hitting three, it implies they were in the home already.

What about some fingerprints on the merchandise? Were any of them the deceased person's fingerprints.

This just goes to show how poorly our governmental and law enforcement organizations really are at their jobs.

I too hope for stiff penalties to come down on the people who orchestrated this event, but then again, we all know better.

jeepmor

 

[dave_pro2a]

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/10408234/detail.html

ATLANTA -- There is major fallout from the Atlanta Police shootout that left an elderly woman dead – officers are put on leave and the state and the feds are investigating.

Atlanta’s Police Chief announced both the FBI and GBI are investigating the shootout. Also, a narcotics team involved is now on paid leave and autopsy results reveal 88-year-old Kathryn Johnston was shot six times.

Chief Richard Pennington wrapped up a surprise press conference around 5:20 p.m. Monday telling us his entire narcotics unit is on administrative leave – that means seven officers and one sergeant are on leave after the police shootout that left Kathryn Johnston dead.

Now, Chief Pennington confirmed there are questions as to whether there was ever a drug buy at Kathryn Johnston’s home – the informant told the Internal Affairs Unit he was told to lie.

“Officers are saying one thing – confidential informant is saying something else,” said Chief Richard Pennington.

Chief Pennington dropped several bomb shells at a press conference Monday evening. He tells us his entire narcotics unit will be placed on administrative leave after last Tuesday’s police shootout that left 88-year-old Kathryn Johnston dead and three officers wounded.

In search warrants obtained by Channel 2, investigators say a confidential informant made an undercover buy at Johnston’s home -- $50 worth of crack cocaine.

Johnston’s family and community leaders were outraged, claiming no such drug deal could have happened because Johnston lived alone in her Northwest Atlanta home.

Now, Chief Pennington confirmed there are questions as to whether that drug buy ever happened.

When Pennington was asked if it was his understanding that the informant was told to lie about a possible drug purchase, Chief Pennington replied, “Yes. According to the informant, after we brought that informant in and interviewed that informant, he told us he had no knowledge of going into that house and purchasing drugs.”

From here, the FBI is taking over the investigation and the GBI will process the crime scene on Neal Street – Johnston’s home. The U.S. Justice Department will also be conducting their own independent investigation. Chief Richard Pennington announcing no stone will be unturned and said they will review their policies on “no-knock” warrants and using confidential and reliable informants.

 

[DRZinn]

Maybe some good will come of this.

 

[Liberal Gun Nut]

Hey doesn't matter what comes out of the investigation, the cops get to keep the house, right?

I still think they should put her head on a pike in front of her house. Then they should rape her corpse and shoot her some more. And burn the house down. And then do a victory dance there. If it's ok to bust down her door and shoot her over known-false information from a jailhouse liar, is it really any big step to also raping her and putting the head on a pike? Why even bother with warrants? The War on Drugs justifies everything. It's sort of an all-purpose waiver to the constitution. No conduct is too barbarous or heinous to be excluded from the war on drugs. If it will save just one child, put her head on a pike! What I'm advocating here is just one very small step beyond what they already did so I don't think it's any big deal.

 

[dave_pro2a]

Liberal Gun Nut, if you could tone the rhetoric down a little bit it'd be much appreciated.

You and I probably agree about the crux if this problem (issue), but some of the language you're using isn't going to help the conversation here -- unless your goal is to get the thread locked.

 

[Biker]

I agree, Dave. If we want to keep this thread (and others pertaining to the same kind of issues) open, we're gonna have to disuss it in a rational manner.
Some good info has come out in this thread and I'd like to see more.
Won't happen if it's locked.

Biker

 

[Sindawe]

I concur with Biker and dave_pro2a, we need to keep the wild rhetoric out of this thread (and others of course ) least it get closed like the prior threads on this topic.

So the Confidential Informant is now saying that they had no knowledge of this buy? Maybe I missed it, but WHEN was the CI asked to lie about this?

 

[dave_pro2a]

I'm actually very happy that mods here are finally letting us converse about these topics.

This is an important issue/event. People need to start thinking about it critically, and considering how it might effect them, and our freedoms.

Buku important! And spot on target for talking about in a gun forum, it's about constitutional issues, due process, justice, etc.