Ex-Cop Who Killed Black Veteran Asks For Charges To Be Dropped

Former DeKalb officer, Robert Olsen, who killed 27-year-old Anthony Hill during his arraignment in Decatur, Georgia, asked for charges against him to be dismissed

Robert Olsen was indicted in January on charges, including a felony murder, in the killing of Anthony Hill in March, last year. The officer who resigned from the DeKalb County Police Department after the incident, killed Hill on March 9, 2015, while responding to a call about a naked mentally ill man behaving unusually outside an Atlanta complex.

Olsen pleaded not guilty to the charges in June. In a court hearing on Friday, he and his Attorney, Don Samuel argued that the charges should be dismissed because they believe grand jury secrecy was violated in the case.

In a motion to dismiss the charges, Samuel claimed that people who weren’t important to the case were present in the courtroom during the grand jury proceeding. An expert witness, some people from the district attorney’s office and a court reporter were all at the hearing. “It was like a circus sometimes,” Samuel said.

Samuel stated that the presence of the people from the district attorney’s office could have hindered questions being asked by the grand jurors. Although, he pointed out that he doesn’t believe the grand jurors were intimidated by anyone on purpose.

Prosecutor Chris Timmons said that the prosecution of officers is quite complicated, compared to other cases, hence the presence of extra investigators and prosecutors to present evidence as quickly as possible. A Georgia law which existed at the time of the indictment, allowed an officer to sit through proceeding and also give a statement without inquiry from grand jurors and prosecutors.

“If anything, the presence of the officer and his attorney’s places pressure on grand jurors as they’re staring at the person they’re being asked to indict,” Timmons said. Timmons went on to explain that even if there was a violation of secrecy, as claimed by Samuel, the solution isn’t to drop charges against the accused. DeKalb County Superior Judge J.P. Boulee said he wouldn’t accept the Olsen’s request, pending more research on the issue.

Olsen should face the music after killing an unarmed and mentally ill Black man and not try to maneuver his way out of the case by claiming a state law was violated. A new state law which took effect from July 1 curbs the privileges of cops, which now stops officers from making unchallenged statements and also doesn’t allow officers to sit in on the entire hearing.

Source: Yahoo news