(WSB-TV/Atlanta) – A jury has found former Habersham County sheriff’s deputy Nikki Autry not guilty of misleading a judge to get a warrant in a botched raid that injured a toddler.
The verdict was handed down shortly after 5 p.m. Friday, following a week of testimony in federal court in Gainesville.
During the trial, Autry listened to informants who testified that she used them to make a drug buy at the Cornelia house where the Phonesevah family was staying in May 2014.
During execution of a no-knock warrant hours later, another deputy tossed a flash bang grenade, which detonated in Bou Bou Phonesevah’s playpen and critically injured the toddler.
Prosecutors said Autry and her team used three people to buy meth from that house, though only one of them was an official confidential informant. They maintain Autry misrepresented their information and lied to a judge to get the search warrant.
The judge who authorized the no-knock warrant, James Buttwerworth, testified on Thursday that Autry told him a registered confidential informant made the drug buy and saw weapons in the house. But the truth is, it was the informant’s friend who made the buy, and no one witnessed any weapons. Butterworth said had he been given accurate information, he would not have authorized the warrant.
Autry told jurors she never lied, deceived or mislead Butterworth when she asked for the warrant. But she also admitted some of the information included in the affidavit wasn’t quite accurate either.
Autry’s attorney tried to show that she wasn’t the only detective involved and wasn’t the one in charge.
Updated 12/11/15 @ 5:20 p.m.
