Ex-Atlanta cops apologize for slaying

ATLANTA, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Three former Atlanta police officers tearfully apologized in court for their actions in a botched drug raid that left a woman dead.

Former narcotics officers Jason Smith, Arthur Tesler and Gregg Junnier pleaded guilty to conspiring to deny the civil rights of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston, who in 2006 was shot to death in her apartment in a fusillade of police bullets, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The undercover officers fired 36 bullets at Johnston after going to her home on a bogus drug tip. The elderly woman had fired a single shot at the narcotics team, whom prosecutors said went to "elaborate" lengths to cover up the slaying, including planting drug evidence.

Smith said he erred when he began to think "drug dealers were no longer human. I saw myself above them," he said, adding that "there is no excuse for my conduct" in the death of Johnston.

Prosecutors are seeking more than 12 years imprisonment for Smith and 10 years for Tesler, the Journal-Constitution reported. Authorities are seeking a "substantial reduction" to Junnier's 10-year sentence because he cooperated as a witness.