Three disgraced and tearful former Atlanta cops apologized yeterday for the botched drug raid that left terrified 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston shot dead by police bullets, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Former officers Gregg Junnier, Jason Smith and Arthur Bruce Tesler – all wearing jail jumpsuits and leg irons – stood before a federal judge and discussed their roles in the events leading up to the shooting and the cover-up afterward.
Today, U.S. District Court Judge Julie Carnes is expected to impose prison terms for all three. They previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate Johnston's civil rights by causing her death. Sentencing guidelines recommend that Smith serve 12 years and seven months in prison and that Junnier and Tesler serve 10 years and one month. On Nov. 21, 2006, Smith falsified an affidavit for a no-knock search warrant allowing narcotics officers to batter down Johnston's door. Apparently thinking she was being invaded, she fired a shot from an old rusty revolver through the door. Officers responded with 39 rounds, killing her.