A former Georgia police officer who fatally shot an unarmed, naked man in 2015 pleaded guilty to aggravated assault on Wednesday. This resolution means he will not serve any additional time behind bars.
Robert “Chip” Olsen, 63, entered the plea in DeKalb County Superior Court. Judge LaTisha Dear Jackson subsequently sentenced him to 15 years, with 12 years commuted to time already served. The remaining three years will be served on probation, prosecutors announced. Olsen was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.
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The case stems from the March 2015 killing of Anthony Hill, a 26-year-old Black Air Force veteran who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Olsen, then a DeKalb County police officer, was responding to a call about a naked man behaving erratically at an Atlanta-area apartment complex when he encountered Hill. Olsen claimed he acted in self-defense when he shot Hill.
“No one would say that they are happy about any aspect of this case, it was a tragedy all the way around, but today’s resolution will bring closure to the case,” Olsen’s lawyers, Amanda Clark Palmer and Don Samuel, said in a statement. “We are relieved that our client will not serve any additional time in custody.”
DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston expressed hope that the plea would offer some measure of peace to Hill’s family. “It has been more than a decade since Anthony Hill’s life was cut tragically short,” Boston stated in a press release. “Defendant Olsen’s guilty plea brings this long, arduous chapter to a close and through it he has finally accepted some responsibility for his actions.”
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Olsen was initially indicted in January 2016 on multiple charges, including murder, aggravated assault, violation of his oath of office, and making a false statement. In a 2019 trial, a jury found him guilty of one count of aggravated assault, two counts of violating his oath of office, and one count of making a false statement. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, followed by eight years of probation.
However, Olsen appealed his conviction for aggravated assault and one count of violating his oath. Last year, the Georgia Court of Appeals overturned those specific convictions. The appeals court ruled that the trial court had erred by admitting the DeKalb County Police Department’s use-of-force policy into evidence without identifying and redacting portions that conflicted with Georgia law, an argument Olsen’s defense had made before the trial.
The appellate court’s decision allowed prosecutors the option to retry Olsen on the aggravated assault charge, but not the overturned violation of oath count, leading to Wednesday’s plea agreement.
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