Georgia Trial For Elderly Shooting Case
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Posted: 2:11 PM May 16, 2008
Georgia Trial For Elderly Shooting Case
A trial resumes in Georgia for a police officer accused in a drug raid gone wrong.
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A jury in Atlanta will resume deliberations today in the trial of an Atlanta police officer accused in a botched drug raid...
A raid in which a 92-year-old woman was shot to death.
The officer did not pull the trigger...but he stands accused of violating his oath.
Fulton County prosecutor Kellie Hill told a jury in closing
arguments Thursday that the officer, Arthur Tesler, only admitted his role in the shooting death of Kathryn Johnston in 2006 after he was confronted by federal agents investigating the case.
Tesler is charged with lying in an official investigation, violating his oath as an officer and false imprisonment.
The prosecutor contends Tesler knew the warrant for the raid included false information.

Kellie Hill says, "He did the same thing Ray Jr. did. See no evil, speak no evil. If I don't look at it, if I don't read the lie, then I can say just what he did say, I didn't read the warrant."

Tessler could face up to 15 years in prison.
The 92 year old victim was shot 39 times as plain clothes narcotics officers broke into her house using a ``no-knock'' warrant.
Johnston fired one shot from a pistol as police were breaking down her door, but she did not hit any of the officers.
Tesler's attorney told the jury that convicting Tesler would be wrong because he was manipulated into lying to cover the mistakes of his senior officers.
Tesler says he feared the men would hurt him or his family if he didn't stick to their script.