An appeals court has overturned the convictions of a former Georgia police officer who shot and killed an unarmed, naked man.
FILE - Former DeKalb County police officer Robert Olsen prepares to be processed after his sentencing, Friday, Nov. 1, 2019, in Decatur, Ga. Robert “Chip” Olsen was responding to a call of a naked man behaving erratically at an Atlanta-area apartment complex in March 2015 when he killed 26-year-old Anthony Hill, a black Air Force veteran who’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The trial court was wrong to admit the policy into evidence without identifying and redacting the portions that conflict with Georgia law, state Court of Appeals Judge Brian Rickman wrote in a unanimous opinion Tuesday. That error was compounded, he wrote, when jurors were told the policy could be used “to assess the reasonableness” of Olsen’s using deadly force.
Rickman, writing for a three-judge panel, noted that prosecutors can retry Olsen on the aggravated assault charge. But the opinion says the state cannot retry him on the violation of oath counts because those were based on a violation of the use of force policy.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 wrote in an email.
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Appeals court overturns convictions of former Georgia officer who fatally shot naked manAn appeals court has overturned the convictions of a former Georgia police officer who shot and killed an unarmed naked man. Robert “Chip” Olsen responded to a call of a naked man behaving erratically at an Atlanta-area apartment complex in March 2015.
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