District Attorney Brian Rickman praised the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for going to "very extraordinary lengths" to insure the investigation into the shooting was fair. Franklin said in an interview with the AJC. Some of the officers claimed that Paz appeared to be going for a gun, and they fatally shot him twice in the back in front of his wife. Harris fired twice at the fleeing vehicle, grazing Ayers on the arm and striking him in the torso. It was a hot, late summer Georgia afternoon. Some say Ayers was obviously frightened by two men running to his car and he did not know they were police, though witnesses told the grand jury they heard Harrison and Oxner identify themselves. He called the charges a self-defense case but didnt provide any further details. I'm thinking of Dustin Pigeon, Andrew Thomas, Daniel Shaver and Jonathan Ayers. Your email address will not be published. In February, I posted about a settlement in the death of Jonathan Ayers, an innocent pastor that this same drug task force killed in a drug operation in 2009. "He was an unarmed man. WebLOGAN A 29-year-old Ogden man has been arrested for allegedly shooting at a group of teenagers in Providence Canyon. The police found no illicit drugs in his car, and there was no trace of any illegal substance in his body. Attorney General Eric Holder recently addressed the war on drugs during a speech for the American Bar Associations annual meeting, calling for the United States to seriously reevaluate its harsh policy of mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent, low-level drug offenses. Jonathan Ayers was a pastor at the Shoal Creek Baptist Church. But in addition to the $1.6 million, slightly more than $832,000 was awarded to the plaintiff in legal fees and expenses. But with the war on drugs, the concept of innocent until proven guilty has fallen by the wayside on countless occasions. The officers saw the woman in a car with Ayers and saw what they believed was a drug transaction, Bankhead said. Its Legacy Is Disastrous. Harrison and Oxner told investigators they saw a woman, Kayla Barrett, whom they planned to arrest later that day on drug charges get into Ayers' car and they saw him give her money. 1, 2019 at 5:28 PM EDT. In a democratic republic, civilians are not executed in paramilitary-like raids based on guilt by association. An 18-member grand jury in Stephens County in northeast Georgia ruled that the officer who fired two shots that fatally wounded Jonathan Ayers, pastor of Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Lavonia, Ga., was justified in using lethal force because he reasonably believed he was in physical danger. 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Narcotics officer Frank Baggett, Jr. said that when he kicked down the door to Dixons bedroom, he stumbledwhich caused his gun to go off and sent a bullet into Dixons chest. "The vigilantes will get their justice, hopefully, in civil court. Thats a remarkably fast investigation given that the raid happened less than two days ago. "The video seemed to be the main catalyst for a lot of anger," Rickman said. No one was disciplined for the actual killing of Ayers. According to the originally filed civil complaint, Harrison later claimed he shot the victim because, at the time, he thought LOGAN A 29-year-old Ogden man has been arrested for allegedly shooting at a group of teenagers in Providence Canyon. Wanis Thonetheva, thats the person I blame in all this. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. "The community reaction has been mostly negative," said the Rev. Not surprisingly, no drugs were found in either Ayers vehicle or on his dead body, although one of the officers claimed that before the killing, Barrett had sold him $50 worth of crack cocaine. Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court. In a civil suit, Johnstons family was awarded a $490,000 settlement. More astonishing, Harrison apparently had no training at all in the use of lethal force. She also received WebIn February, I posted about a settlement in the death of Jonathan Ayers, an innocent pastor that this same drug task force killed in a drug operation in 2009. | The law cited by the grand jury states in part that a person who uses threats or force in defense of self or others is immune from criminal prosecution. The initial civil complaint also states Harrison had not met the training requirements necessary to act as a peace officer, and was not acting in his scope of authority on the date of the shooting. And a Plains teen girl borrowed Jimmy Carters clothes. 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Instead, Ayers had either been ministering to or having an affair with (depending on whom you believe) Johanna Kayla Jones Barrett, the actual target of the investigation. Ayers crashed his car, was taken to a hospital and died hours later in surgery. In a letter to Rickman, Gwinnett County District Attorney Daniel Porter said the officers had "sufficient articulable suspicion" to question Ayers and that no criminal charges were warranted. Idexx Laboratories Inc. Chairman, President and CEO Jonathan Ayers is on a medical leave of absence following a serious cycling accident that occurred Thursday. The police were trailing Barrett at the time. 10. Ayers gave her the $23 in his pocket to help cover her rent. Hall school board approves $11M for giant classroom touchscreens. | They also had badges around their necks.". All rights reserved. By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism. Tragically, that cost Ayers his life when, on September 1, 2009, he gave a woman named Johanna Jones Barrett $23 to help her pay her rent. Review & Giveaway: What Do We Do When Nobody is Listening? Rickman told the AJC that calls to his office started the day after the shooting. Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press. Based on that finding, jurors said officers involved in the incident "would be immune from criminal prosecution" under Georgia law. Ayers was shot in the liver and later died in a hospital operating room. Abigail Ayerss lawsuit also alleged that Harrison and Officer Chance Oxner, who initially bought the drugs from the woman Ayers was counseling, had a history of disciplinary problems, including use of illicit drugs. WebWhen they broke in, Johnston (who lived alone in a high-crime area of the city and kept a gun in her house for protection) assumed she was being the victim of a home invasion and According to an interview Barrett gave to the North Georgian newspaper shortly after Ayers' death, the pastor had seen her walking near a gas station on her way back to an extended-stay motel where she was living with her boyfriend. Judge OKs $832K in legal fees in preacher shooting case, Damages awarded to widow cut to $1.6 million, SPONSORED: How to start a hiking, backpacking habit in 2022. An undercover drug task force team had set up an operation at a local business, and had a woman under surveillance -- someone they had bought drugs from on two previous occasions, GBI spokesman John Bankhead told CNN Thursday. 2023 Baptist News Global. Many African Americans in that part of Texas, including members of the local NAACP chapter and Smith County Commissioner Andrew Mellontree, were outraged that Baggett dodged both criminal and civil charges. Police later determined what they had seen was not a drug transaction, but "other circumstances were involved, and that's part of the investigation," Bankhead said. Ayers is yet more collateral damage in the boundlessly tragic and wasteful drug war, as are his widowed wife Abigail and the child she was carrying at the time of his death. SWAT teams can serve a valuable function in law enforcement. Watch surveillance video of Ayers' car hitting officer , Authorities say Jonathan Ayers was in car with drug suspect, When police approached car, they claim Ayers struck officer with vehicle, Another officer shot Ayers; both officers placed on paid administrative leave, Nothing illegal found in Ayers' vehicle, authorities say. Ayers had not been a suspect in any drug investigation. Still, many residents are unconvinced. Heres when your childs school will get one. The defense asked for the amount to be reduced under a specific formula; Story granted the request by decreasing it to $1.6 million, as a better estimate of the income Jonathan Ayers would have been expected to receive. The Rev. Grand jury clears officers in minister shooting, Officials claim law enforcement fatally shot pastor after he drove car in threatening way, SPONSORED: How to start a hiking, backpacking habit in 2022. Smith and Junnier both pled guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter; Smith also pled guilty to perjury and admitted he planted the marijuana in Johnstons house. Rickman would tell a local paper that the investigations went to extraordinary lengths, and,I do not see how anybody could say the process was unfair based on the lengths that they went to.. "We are in the process of gathering all the facts surrounding this terrible incident," Stroberg said. The decision to raid the Paz home, according to Ankeny, was made after narcotics officers found some bills and Department of Motor Vehicle records containing the familys address among the possessions of a drug suspect named Marcos Beltrn. The officers saw Cardenas and assumed he was David Gonzales, the man they were looking forand when they pointed their guns at Cardenas, he fled (first in a vehicle, then on foot) but was shot in the back and killed. On the other side are those who say Harrison and fellow deputy Chance Oxner did the best they could with the information they had when they tried to stop Ayers from driving away. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. The pastor, understandably, attempted to escape. Rickman also cleared the cops in the Ayers case. In the process, he nicked one agent. Up until that moment, Ayers was known to most as a man devoted to his family and faith. When task force members saw Ayers alone in the car with the woman, they switched their focus to him. Smith, Junnier and Tesler faced a variety of charges from both the federal government and the state of Georgia. 3. Authorities say they found nothing illegal in Jonathan Ayers' car after he was slain during a drug sting. The Rev. Au total il y a 112 utilisateurs en ligne :: 3 enregistrs, 0 invisible et 109 invits (daprs le nombre dutilisateurs actifs ces 3 dernires minutes)Le record du nombre dutilisateurs en ligne est de 850, le 05 Avr 2016 19:55 Utilisateurs enregistrs: Google [Bot], Senuphile, Yahoo [Bot] Ayers continued to drive, fleeing the parking lot for about a thousand yards before eventually crashing his car. Accessibility | Chavalia later said he thought shots were coming from that bedroom, but the fact that he killed an unarmed woman holding a baby was inexcusable, especially in light of the fact that Wilson, according to her sister Tania Wilson, was not involved in drug sales herself. They first said he was part of their drug investigation all along, then retracted. One of the people he had been helping was a woman who had a history of problems. A concussion grenade was thrown into the apartment; Spruill, a city employee who was getting ready to leave for work, suffered a heart attack and died. 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The person I blame in this whole thing is the person selling the drugs, Terrell said. The woman the police were following. The police claimed they announced themselves, but it isn't difficult to see how Ayersor anyone elsemight have been confused in the commotion. U.S. District Judge Richard Story also decreased the initial amount awarded in damages and expenses. They said he had given her a ride to the motel where she lived, and was giving her rent money when spotted by narcotics detectives. But the conduct of three Atlanta police officers in the killing of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston was so unscrupulous that all three faced criminal charges. WebLast September, Ayers, a 28-year-old Baptist pastor from Lavonia, Georgia, was gunned down by a North Georgia narcotics task force in the parking lot of a gas station. The pastor may have fled the police, the grand jury concluded, because he feared his reputation would be ruined if his relationship with Barrett were exposed. Until we're ready to dispense with the notion that gun-toting cops in ski masks going commando at a public gas station is an appropriate response to an alleged $50 drug transaction, we're going to see a lot more Jonathan Ayerses. WebAn 18-member grand jury in Stephens County in northeast Georgia ruled that the officer who fired two shots that fatally wounded Jonathan Ayers, pastor of Shoal Creek Baptist Both units serve Habersham County and are under the jurisdiction of Sheriff Joey Terrel and DA Brian Rickman. Innocent civilians have more to fear from botched drug raids and careless police work than they do from drug dealers. WebATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A north Georgia pastor was shot to death by police when he struck an officer with his car after he was seen in a vehicle with a drug suspect, Ayers widow, Abby Ayers, lives in Gainesville and has retained a local attorney in the case. 1. He could face up to 15 year in prison, if convicted. Franklin said if the person shot that day had been "a druggie, a thug, a person of disrepute, then it could have been a completely different response from the public. It was refreshing to hear an attorney general make those statements; also encouraging is a recent Rasmussen poll finding that 82% of Americans see the war on drugs as a failure. He asked emergency personnel if he was going to make it and told his wife at the hospital to take care of herself and that he did nothing wrong. The raid was conducted based on bad information from an informant, but a thorough search of the house turned up no evidence of drug dealingand an autopsy showed no evidence of drugs in Menas body. Wilsons one-year-old child was also shot but survived, although one of his fingers needed to be amputated. But this same task force has a history. 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