An appeals court has reversed its decision to convict Robert Olsen, the former DeKalb County, Georgia officer who fatally shot a Black veteran nine years ago, according to reports.
Olsen opened fire at 26-year-old Anthony Hill, whose family said suffered from mental health disorders, on March 9, 2015. The ex-officer responded to a call about a naked man exhibiting “odd” behavior outside of an apartment complex in the area.
The Associated Press reported that the apartment management called police several times about Hill’s actions. The 911 dispatcher informed Olsen that a “possibly demented” man was at the scene.
Bystanders said Hill was “squatting” outside when Olsen finally arrived, per the outlet. The victim then started to run in Olsen’s direction, and the officer ordered him to “stop.” When Hill failed to comply, Olsen fired his struck two times. During the trial, Olsen argued that he was acting in self-defense.
In 2019, Olsen was cleared of two counts of felony murder but was convicted of making a false statement, aggravated assault, and two counts of violation of oath, Fox 5 reported. He was handed down a 20-year sentence and ordered to serve 12 years.
“It just brings back the feelings of losing Tony, like pulling off a scab of a wound you just won’t let heal,” Hill’s sister, Tamara Giummo, said during an interview with local news referring to the new ruling.
The court’s decision to overturn is reportedly “based upon a violation of the [DeKalb] County Police Department’s Use of Force Policy.”
“We conclude further that, although the evidence was legally sufficient to sustain Olsen’s conviction on aggravated assault such that he may be retried on that count should the State opt to do so, the evidence was legally insufficient with respect to the crime of violation of oath by a public officer based upon a violation of the UFP,” the ruling said.
The three-judge panel of the Georgia Court of Appeals was unanimous in finding that the trial court was mistaken in allowing the use of force policy admitted as evidence in the case without striking portions of the document that conflict with state law.
The police department’s use of force of policy called for to “exhaust every means available of non-lethal force, prior to utilizing deadly force,” while Georgia laws on self-defense allow deadly force to be used if a person “reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury to himself or herself or a third person or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony,” The Associated Press reported.
Jurors were told by prosecutors during closing arguments that they could let the use of force policy inform their decision in reaching a verdict.
According to the reports, DeKalb District Attorney Sherry Boston opposes the new ruling and will appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. However, Olsen’s attorney, Don Samuel, praised the latest decision.
“It was clear from the outset of this case that the local police department’s ‘Use of Force Policy’ was not a document that supersedes the state law that governs all cases involving self-defense,” Samuel told the AP. “The Court of Appeals was correct in denouncing the prosecution’s use of that county policy instead of state law.”
