COURT FOCUSES ON BOTCHED RAID, DEATH

Opening Statements to Begin Today in Officer's Trial

Arthur Tesler doesn't face the most serious charges in the illegal
police raid that resulted in the killing of a 92-year-old woman, but
his trial could be the only time the high-profile case gets laid bare
in the courtroom.

Tesler is the only Atlanta police officer to go to trial for his role
in the 2006 raid that left Kathryn Johnston dead. Officers later
admitted planting drugs to justify breaking into her home.

Opening statements in Tesler's trial are scheduled for today before
Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson at the Fulton County Courthouse.

The scandal spawned accusations of questionable police practices such
as arrest quotas, no-knock search warrants in which cops break down
doors in surprise attacks and --- at least in this case --- lying about
evidence to get warrants.

It prompted police Chief Richard Pennington to disband and reorganize
the department's narcotics unit and two other officers to plead guilty
to voluntary manslaughter.

"It has set our department back a couple of years in terms of our
trust with the neighborhoods and in our ability to fight drug
trafficking," said Sgt. Scott Kreher, president of International
Brotherhood of Police Officers Local 623. "It tarnished our badge."

Tesler faces charges of false imprisonment, violation of oath of
office and making a false statement to an investigator. Prosecutors
say his role was to keep Johnston trapped in her house on Neal Street
in northwest Atlanta and that he helped in an attempted cover-up.

If convicted, he could face 15 years in prison.

Attempts to reach Tesler's lawyer, Bill McKenney, were unsuccessful.
He has contended his client did nothing wrong and has questioned the
legitimacy of the false imprisonment charge.

Former Officers Gregg Junnier and Jason R. Smith pleaded guilty to
manslaughter and a federal charge of violating Johnston's
constitutional rights. They face up to 10 years and 12 years
respectively, depending on their cooperation with authorities.

Both are expected to testify against Tesler, who is on leave pending
trial.

"It is an ugly case, but Tesler is not a patsy . . . nobody forced him
to be derelict in his duty," said Rand Csehy, a former narcotics
prosecutor who represented Junnier, an 18-year veteran. "The death was
the tragic consequence of an intentional act. I don't believe in
diminishing liability based on who got there first and who got their
last.

"Kathryn Johnston depended on the Police Department to protect
her."

State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) said the Johnston killing has hurt
perceptions of police in poorer neighborhoods more than any event in
decades.

"The police are supposed to be our first line of defense against bad
guys, but now there are people who are wondering if they are safe in
their homes," Fort said. "There is still a great deal of anger of what
happened to Mrs. Johnston."

Fort said many people believe the sentences for Junnier and Smith are
too light and fear Tesler will be acquitted or get little prison time.

Neighborhood meetings following Johnston's death brought forth
allegations of a series of police abuses, including no-knock warrants
issued for the wrong homes.

"People are concerned that there is a double standard of justice, one
for criminals who happened to be police and another standard for other
people," Fort said.

The imprisonment charge against Tesler is based on his role covering
Johnston's backyard when Junnier and Smith broke down the front door
with other members of an eight-man narcotics team on Nov. 21, 2006.

The team didn't announce themselves as police, and Johnston,
apparently fearing a home invasion, fired one round from an old
revolver. The police fired 39 shots, killing the woman, then
handcuffed her as she lay bleeding and planted drugs in her basement,
investigators said.

In an affidavit to get a search warrant, Smith told a magistrate he
and Tesler had a confidential informant buy $50 worth of crack at 933
Neal St. from a man named "Sam." Police got the no-knock warrant by
claiming Sam had surveillance cameras and they needed the element of
surprise. Junnier later told federal investigators no drug buy took
place.

The raid was set in motion by the arrest of a suspected small-time
dealer earlier that day who claimed he saw a kilogram of cocaine at
the Neal Street home.

The narcotics unit reportedly tried to have an informant buy drugs at
the house but, when that couldn't be arranged, got the no-knock warrant.

The intended informant, Alex White, later came forward and told
authorities the drug officers had asked him to say he'd bought drugs
at the house. White's role became public after he jumped out of an
Atlanta squad car and called 911. On a 911 tape, an insistent and
anxious-sounding man identifying himself as White told an operator, "I
have two cops chasing me. They're on the dirty side, two undercover
officers."