Kathryn Johnston

People

Kathryn Johnston

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Kathryn Johnston (June 26, 1914 – November 21, 2006) was a 92-year-old African American woman who was shot and killed by Atlanta Police Department narcotics officers during a botched no-knock drug raid on her home. The officers cut through burglar bars and broke down her door; believing intruders were breaking in, Johnston fired a single shot from a rusty revolver over the officers' heads. The officers responded by firing 39 shots, five or six of which struck Johnston, killing her. No drugs were found in her home. After killing an innocent elderly woman, one officer planted marijuana in her basement to cover up their mistake. Subsequent investigations revealed that the entire basis for the raid—an informant's alleged drug purchase from the home—was fabricated. The case exposed a "culture of misconduct" in the Atlanta Police Department's narcotics unit, where officers routinely lied under oath to obtain search warrants and falsified documentation. Three officers were convicted and sentenced to federal prison terms of five to ten years. The City of Atlanta paid Johnston's family $4.9 million in a wrongful death settlement. The case prompted sweeping reforms including the disbanding and rebuilding of the APD narcotics unit, tighter restrictions on no-knock warrants in Georgia, and the establishment of a citizen oversight board. Kathryn Johnston was born on June 26, 1914, and had lived through two World Wars, the Spanish flu pandemic, Jim Crow laws, and the Civil Rights Movement. She had resided in her home on Neal Street in Atlanta's English Avenue neighborhood for 17 years. The area was crime-ridden, and Johnston had reason to fear for her safety—another elderly woman in the neighborhood had recently been raped, and drug dealing was common on nearby streets. In the year before her death, Johnston had installed extra locks and burglar bars on her home. Neighbors and family said she kept a rusty revolver for self-defense. On November 21, 2006, Atlanta narcotics officer Jason Smith submitted an affidavit to obtain a no-knock search warrant for Johnston's home. The affidavit claimed that a confidential informant had purchased crack cocaine inside the house from a man named "Sam" earlier that day, and that the home had video surveillance equipment—justifying the no-knock approach to prevent destruction of evidence. Nearly everything in the affidavit was false. The informant, Alexis "Alex" White, a paid police informant, later told federal investigators he never purchased drugs at Johnston's home. He said officers had asked him to make a buy, but he couldn't get there in time because he lacked transportation. The officers proceeded with the raid anyway, using fabricated evidence. That evening, officers Gregg Junnier, Jason Smith, and Arthur Tesler arrived at Johnston's home. They cut through her burglar bars and broke down her door. Johnston, believing criminals were breaking into her home, fired a single shot from her revolver over the officers' heads. The officers returned fire with 39 shots, striking Johnston five or six times and killing her. Despite initial police claims that officers were wounded by Johnston's gunfire, investigators later determined all officer injuries resulted from friendly fire—bullets ricocheting from each other's weapons. When officers realized they had killed an innocent woman and found no drugs, Officer Jason Smith planted three bags of marijuana in Johnston's basement to justify the raid. The officers also pressured informant Alex White to lie and claim he had made a drug purchase at the home. In a remarkable act of courage, White refused. He escaped from police custody, called 911, contacted federal authorities, and told his story to the media—exposing the cover-up. The FBI launched an investigation that revealed systemic corruption in the APD narcotics unit. Investigators found that officers routinely lied under oath to obtain search warrants, falsified affidavits, planted evidence, and fabricated informant testimony. U.S. Attorney David Nahmias stated: "As Atlanta police narcotics officers, these three defendants repeatedly failed to follow proper procedures and then lied under oath to obtain search warrants. Their routine violations of the Fourth Amendment led to the death of an innocent citizen." Officers Smith and Junnier pleaded guilty to state charges of voluntary manslaughter, violation of oath by a public officer, criminal solicitation, and making false statements. All three officers pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy to violate civil rights resulting in death. On February 24, 2009, U.S. District Judge Julie E. Carnes sentenced Jason Smith to 10 years in federal prison, Gregg Junnier to 6 years, and Arthur Tesler to 5 years. The sergeant in charge of the narcotics unit also pleaded guilty to related charges, and another officer admitted to extortion. The case prompted major reforms. Police Chief Richard Pennington disbanded the entire narcotics unit and rebuilt it from scratch, doubling its size with better-trained officers. The Atlanta City Council established an independent Citizen Review Board in 2007 to investigate allegations of police misconduct. The Georgia State Senate voted to tighten restrictions on no-knock warrants, making them more difficult to obtain. The APD instituted mandatory drug testing for officers and reviewed all training procedures. In August 2010, the City of Atlanta agreed to pay Johnston's family $4.9 million in a wrongful death settlement. In August 2018, the city council announced plans to name a park after her. Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park opened near her former home, just blocks from where she was killed. A nonprofit organization, Helping Empower Youth (HEY!), has worked to transform Johnston's former home into a youth mentorship center. A decade after Johnston's death, the reforms implemented in Atlanta were credited with helping the city avoid the widespread protests and conflicts that followed police-involved deaths in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland. However, the case remains a stark example of the deadly consequences of the war on drugs, militarized policing, abuse of informants, and the dangers of no-knock raids.