Former Atlanta officer enters not guilty plea

Fugitive task force killing trial moved to federal court.

A former Atlanta police officer facing murder and other charges in the fatal task force shooting of an unarmed man pleaded not guilty this week in federal court.

Sung Kim, a 26-year veteran of the police department, shot Jimmy Atchison on Jan. 22, 2019, while working as a member of an

FBI fugitive task force. Atchison, a 21-yearold father of two, was wanted for allegedly stealing a woman’s cellphone at gunpoint, but an investigation found he did not have a weapon on him when he was killed.

Officers chased Atchison through a northwest Atlanta apartment complex before surrounding him as he hid inside a friend’s closet.

Atchison’s family said he was given conflicting commands while hiding from officers beneath a pile of clothes. One task force member told him to come out with his hands up. Another told him not to move, they said.

Kim later told investigators he shot Atchison because he saw him make a sudden movement with his right arm “as if he was going to shoot him.”

Kim turned himself in late last year after being indicted by a Fulton County grand jury on charges of felony murder, aggravated assault, involuntary manslaughter and two counts of violating his oath of office. But his attorneys successfully got the case moved last month to federal court, citing Kim’s role with the FBI’s

Atlanta Metropolitan Major Offender Task Force at the time of the shooting.

“At all relevant times, Kim was acting under color of federal law, pursuant to his deputation as a member of the FBI AMMO Task Force,” wrote his attorney, Don Samuel.

He said Kim knew Atchison had previously robbed someone at gunpoint, and Kim instructed Atchison not to move after finding him in the closet.

“Disobeying this lawful command, Atchison raised his right arm in a fast motion,” Samuel wrote in a court filing. “Reasonably fearing for his safety and the safety of his colleagues who were present in the room, Kim shot and killed Atchison.”

At the time of the shooting, federal policy prohibited task force members from wearing body cameras.

Atchison’s family pushed for years for criminal charges to be brought against Kim.

Former DA Paul Howard said in March 2020 he was prepared to seek charges against Kim, but those plans came to a halt amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

When current DA Attorney Fani Willis took office in 2021, she instructed her staff to work through the “large backlog” of police use-of-force incidents. Her office has since indicted numerous current and former law enforcement officers in years-old cases.

“It’s been a long, hard road,” Atchison’s aunt, Tammy Featherstone, said last year after Kim’s indictment. “Now it’s time for us to stand together and make sure that (he) is held accountable.

A federal immunity hearing in the former officer’s case will likely be scheduled for 2024.

Sung Kim