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The system is set up to protect its agents instead of the people and that’s exactly what’s happening here.
An Atlanta area police officer in DeKalb County, Robert “Chip” Olsen, was convicted of killing 26-year-old Anthony Hill while he was naked, unarmed and suffering a severe mental health crisis. As a result, Olsen was sentenced to 20 years in prison with 12 to serve back in 2019. According to a WSB-TV report, Hill had stopped taking his prescribed medication and was seen acting bizarrely by other residents at his apartment complex.
“He was doing weird movement. He was crawling on the floor, lying down on the floor,” said one witness, who asked not to be identified
The police report states that when Olsen arrived on the scene, Hill took notice of the officer and began to charge at him. Mind you, he is completely naked and thus, unarmed. However, that didn’t stop Olsen from drawing his service weapon and firing two shots. Here’s where the legal complications begin. Olsen was ultimately charged with aggravated assault, two counts of violation of oath, making a false statement, and two counts of felony murder. A jury found him guilty of all charges except the two counts of felony murder.
The aggravated assault and violations of oath convictions are based on the DeKalb County Police Department’s Use of Force Policy (UFP). The Georgia Court of Appeals, as represented by Judge Rickman, believes that the UFP was improperly applied to this case and overturned his convictions with the following opinion via WSB-TV:
“We reverse Olsen’s convictions on aggravated assault and violation of oath by a public officer based upon a violation of the (DeKalb County Police Department’s Use of Force Policy),” the court said in its ruling Tuesday. “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.”
Essentially, if the state wants to get Olsen on aggravated assault, then their case cannot be based on the “insufficient” proof of a violation of the police department’s code.
The DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office released the following statement in reaction to the court of appeals ruling:
“We have worked tirelessly to hold Robert Olsen accountable for the death of Anthony Hill. While we respect the Court of Appeals, we wholeheartedly disagree with their decision and will appeal this matter to the Georgia Supreme Court.”
We will have more information on that appeal when the trial begins.
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