HATE TO SAY I TOLD YOU SO, BUT KEEP THOSE KEVLAR JAMMIES
HANDY

Over the decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has heard many cases
stemming from police violence against Americans justified by the
so-called "War on Drugs." Never once have the justices seized the
opportunity to rule -- as they are obliged to rule by their oaths of
office -- "Oh, and by the way, your so-called 'War on Drugs' is
totally unconstitutional under the Ninth Amendment. So cut it out."

A constitutional amendment -- the 18th, since repealed -- was
required to suspend Americans' Ninth Amendment right to buy, possess,
and consume alcohol, after all. So when was the constitutional
amendment that similarly authorizes any part of the current "War on
Drugs" ratified?

This alone would justify laying at the feet of our high court the
bodies of thousands of innocents slain in the government's ongoing
"wars" against the American people over certain selected plant
extracts, which the book of Genesis informs us were all -- all --
given by God to man "for his use."

But the high court didn't leave it at that. Oh, no.

On June 15 of this year, by a slim 5-4 majority (thanks to the
replacement of Sandra Day O'Connor by Samuel Alito, almost
certainly), the Supreme Court ruled that -- so long as they have a
warrant -- police can now break into homes and seize evidence without
even knocking.

"Dissenting justices warned Thursday that police will now feel free
to ignore previous court rulings that officers with search warrants
must knock and announce themselves -- giving residents at least 15 to
20 seconds to respond -- lest they run afoul of the Constitution's
Fourth Amendment," I wrote at the time.

The four dissenting justices pointed out that the decision erases
more than 90 years of Supreme Court precedent. "It weakens, perhaps
destroys, much of the practical value of the Constitution's
knock-and-announce protection," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for
himself and the other dissenters.

In fact, the Fourth Amendment contains no "knock-and-announce"
language. The so-called "15-second rule" was already a dangerous
infringement of that right.

"Would most of us manage to get on some proper clothing and make it
to the front door in '15 or 20 seconds' if we heard a knock in the
dead of night?" I asked, back in June. "Is it the common practice,
today, of police SWAT teams dressed in helmets and bulletproof vests,
with cocked shotguns at their shoulders ready to fire, to politely
allow a homeowner time to fetch his bifocals and read their warrant
- -- checking to make sure they have the proper name and address --
while they calmly await his grudging permission to enter?"

Of course not.

"Will anyone be surprised if some innocent parties, confronted by
such a home invasion, reach for their own bedside shotguns, with loss
of life resulting?" I asked back in June. "Or will we simply be told,
'They brought it on themselves, all they had to do was obey the
orders .' of strange home invaders shouting at them in the dead of night?"

I don't always enjoy being right.

At about 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 22 -- after dark, when they should
have been home helping plan their families' Thanksgiving dinner for
the next day -- Atlanta narcotics officers clad in helmets, riot
masks and bulletproof vests, shouted "Police!" (if they are to be
believed) and, without giving the occupant even a few seconds to
respond, broke down the door of a Neal Street home occupied only by
88-year-old Kathryn Johnston. (Her relatives still insist she was 92.)

In northwest Atlanta, Neal Street lies in one of the city's most
dangerous neighborhoods. The area is notorious for its high crime
rates and open drug-dealing and was recently shaken by the rape of an
elderly woman.

The elderly Ms. Johnston, who never married, lived in such fear of
the criminal element that she had steel burglar bars on all her doors
and windows. She was reluctant even to allow neighbors and relatives
into her home, her niece told the local press.

Ms. Johnston responded as would any self-respecting American to the
stimulus of strangers breaking in her door after dark, unannounced.
It doesn't do any good to think of your gun after you're pinned to
the floor by a would-be rapist, after all. Almost certainly unaware
of who was breaking in, she promptly opened fire at the home invaders
with what appears to be the only weapon she had, "a rusty revolver."

She wasn't a bad shot. She hit all three of the officers, one in the
chest and face -- though his mask and Kevlar vest saved his life.

Needless to say, the cops killed the old lady.

And where was "Sam," the drug dealer who police claimed had sold
cocaine to a "confidential informant" from Ms. Johnston's home --
receiving $50 in city funds -- only hours before the raid?

No "Sam" was ever found. No cocaine either. Police claimed they found
"a small quantity of marijuana" in the home.

Sarah Dozier, Johnston's 75-year-old niece, says her aunt lived
alone. Police admit the old lady had no history of drug dealing. Ms.
Dozier told WAGA-TV that there were never any drugs at the house.

In order to acquire their "no-knock" warrant, which allowed them to
smash through the front door without announcing themselves, police
also told a county magistrate that the drug dealer "Sam" monitored
several surveillance cameras at the home.

This week, that same informant told WAGA-TV that he was never at the
house, that police told him "You need to cover our [rear]. ... It's
all on you, man. ... You need to tell them about this Sam dude."
According to the WAGA report, the informant says "Sam" doesn't exist.

A.S. Jennings, who has lived on Johnston's block on Neal Street for
46 years, told Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporters she often spoke
with Johnston.

"She didn't sell drugs," said Jennings, a retired teacher. "She
didn't even take medicine. She was into her health."

Jennings also said there was no surveillance equipment at the house.
"Camera? For what?"

Jennings, like others on the block, tells reporters she knew of no
one named Sam. "The only one I know of is from Dr. Seuss -- 'Sam I
Am,' " she said.

"If she thought somebody was coming into her house, she did what any
one of us would have done," added another neighbor, Allen Pernel, 56.

Reached by phone Tuesday evening, Arthur Tesler, one of the officers
who (according to the affidavit) worked with the informant, told the
Atlanta daily, "We all have families. Our families are extremely
upset. I respectfully decline to comment on anything until all this
is completed."

The FBI, the Fulton County district attorney's office and the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation are all investigating the case. Seven Atlanta
narcotics officers and a supervisor have been put on administrative leave.

I called reporter Rhonda Cook of the Journal-Constitution. She did
not know the caliber of Ms. Johnston's "rusty revolver," though from
the fact that three police officers were treated and released from
the hospital that very day, I'm going to conclude it was .32 caliber
or smaller.

Police originally contended the old lady opened fire "as they
approached the house." But it later turned out she opened fire only
after they got through her barred steel burglar door.

"They said they yelled 'Police,' but I could yell 'Police,' "
reporter Cook said. "I know I had a grandmother who was 90 years old,
and she was pretty much oblivious to everything after she got past 85."

"I'm sure she panicked when they kicked that door down," Dozier said.
"There was no reason they had to go in there and shoot her down like a dog."

What lessons can we draw from the death of 88-year-old Kathryn Johnston?

So long as we live under our current Supreme Court -- and so long as
our local cops insist on playing soldier in pursuit of the hopeless
and counterproductive "War on Drugs" -- innocent Americans should
consider making Kevlar vests parts of their normal home lounging
attire. And investing in larger-caliber home defense weapons.

In the past, I've advised against using combat rifles for home
defense, because a rifle round can over-penetrate and kill someone a mile away.

However, if she'd had a .30-caliber rifle, the elderly Ms. Johnston
would likely have taken at least one armed assailant with her
(remember, she had no chance to learn who they were), and done a lot
more damage to two more. In which case, I doubt Atlanta Police Chief
Richard Pennington would be merely "reconsidering" his policy on Fun
and Games with No-Knock Search Warrants.

If the courts will not defend the sanctity of our homes, Americans
retain the right and duty to do so ourselves.

Back in June, the justices who told us armed goons breaking in our
doors in the dark of night were just hunky-dory said we were not
without remedies. Why, Justice Anthony Kennedy said our legislatures
can intervene if police officers do not "act competently and lawfully."

Oh, sure. Think a single cop will go to jail for lying on this search
warrant affidavit -- already a crime in every state?

Not only that (Justice Kennedy explained from his marble palace),
people whose homes are wrongly searched can always file a civil rights lawsuit.

Oh, fine. Just tell that to Kathryn Johnston.