The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Court reverses convictions of ex-cop in fatal shooting
Full use-of-force policy improperly allowed at trial, 3-judge panel rules.
Georgia’s Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed the convictions against a former DeKalb County police officer who shot and killed a naked and unarmed mentally ill war veteran.
Robert “Chip” Olsen was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated assault and violating his oath of office for the fatal shooting of Anthony Hill, a 26-year-old Air Force veteran and aspiring singer. Olsen, who said he acted in self-defense, was acquitted at the 2019 trial of felony murder, which would have resulted in a life sentence.
On March 9, 2015, Hill had stopped taking his medications for bipolar disorder and was wandering his Chamblee apartment complex naked when he encountered Olsen, who had been called to the scene by the apartment manager. Hill ran toward Olsen, who fired two shots from six to eight feet away after Hill ignored his commands to stop.
In Tuesday’s opinion, written by Judge Brian Rickman, a unanimous three-judge panel said prosecutors were improperly allowed to put into evidence the full version of the DeKalb County Police Department’s use-of-force policy. That is because certain parts of the county’s policy conflict with Georgia’s law governing self-defense, making the county’s provisions “null, void and of no force or effect to the criminal charges lodged against (Olsen),” the opinion said.
DeKalb’s policy, for example, said officers “must exhaust every means available of non-lethal force, prior to utilizing deadly force.” And the policy said it is “for department use only.”
Georgia law says a person is justified in using potential deadly force “if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury to himself or herself or a third person.” State law also says that any county policy that is in conflict with state law is null and void.
“We are happy with the decision,” Amanda Clark Palmer, one of Olsen’s attorneys, said. “We believe the court got it absolutely right.”
DeKalb District Attorney Sherry Boston said the case isn’t over.
“We have worked tirelessly to hold Robert Olsen accountable for the death of Anthony Hill,” she said. “While we respect the Court of Appeals, we wholeheartedly disagree with their decision and will appeal this matter to the Georgia Supreme Court.”
In the opinion, Rickman wrote that Olsen can be retried on the aggravated assault charge but cannot be retried for violating his oath because that count was based on the use-of-force policy.
Olsen has been in prison since 2019 after being sentenced to 12 years in custody for aggravated assault and five years in custody for the violation of oath conviction, which was to be served concurrent to the aggravated assault sentence.
Separately, he was sentenced to five years on probation for violating his oath of office for making a false statement to police after the fatal shooting. He did not appeal his conviction on that count.
The case against Olsen was the subject of the seventh season — “Judgment Call” — of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Breakdown podcast.
Georgia law says a person is justified in using potential deadly force ‘if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury to himself or herself or a third person.’ State law also says that any county policy that is in conflict with state law is null and void.
Cobb County resident Steven Lang was ready to run for the Georgia House when he went to the Capitol last week, paid a $400 fee and prepared to launch his campaign.
But Lang later found out he had qualified to run under an outdated House district map. He learned from a Facebook post by his would-be Republican rival, state Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, he doesn’t actually live in district he wanted to represent.
Lang is now in jeopardy of being disqualified because state law requires candidates to live in their state legislative districts.
Cobb County has not yet updated voter registration for the district maps that changed due to litigation last year, including the state House and Senate maps, the county school board map and the county commission map. So when Lang checked his My Voter Page to determine his district, the information was outdated.
The delay, largely a result of the ongoing dispute over Cobb County’s commission map pending before the Georgia Supreme Court, has caused widespread confusion and frustration during qualifying week for some state and county-level candidates in Cobb.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger criticized Cobb for using the district map drawn by the Cobb County Commission rather than the one passed by the Georgia General Assembly. A judge ruled the county’s district map was unconstitutional in January, and an appeal is pending with the Georgia Supreme Court, which has scheduled oral arguments for April.
“We urge them to update their maps immediately as we have
Democrats line up to sign paperwork to run for election at the Capitol in Atlanta on March 4. Using outdated maps, two Democrats and one Republican in Cobb County could be disqualified because they qualified in legislative districts they don’t live in.
now done for weeks,” said Mike Hassinger, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office. “This is a clear political power grab by this commission that now has real negative consequences on their elections office. Highly irresponsible. Instead of trying to pass the buck, Cobb should just get their redistricting done correctly as soon as possible.”
While the commission map lawsuit is still pending, Cobb Elections Director Tate Fall said the secretary of state’s guidance was to complete redistricting in the system once all of the maps were finalized, and state officials didn’t tell her to move forward without the county commission map until days before qualifying began.
“My staff and I would never disregard direction from the secretary of state,” Fall said. “If we were told to do something, we would have done it.”
Redistricting, a process state
lawmakers undertake to ensure district maps are updated with population changes, has always been highly political in Georgia. But the latest round of redistricting has risen to a new level of partisan conflict, particularly in Cobb County, where every electoral map faced litigation at one point last year.
Daniel White, the Cobb County Board of Elections’ attorney, said the board worked with the secretary of state’s office on how to approach redistricting with one map still in litigation and followed their instruction.
“My board doesn’t really have a preference over which set of maps apply. We’re just trying to follow the law,” White said. “The idea that this is just all on Cobb County and we hadn’t wanted to implement the maps — that’s not it.”
Lang said he’s a victim of redistricting, which put him into a different
state House district from Ehrhart late last year. But because Cobb County election officials haven’t yet updated his registration to reflect his new district, Lang and many other Cobb residents are still registered to vote under the old maps.
“When I went to the My Voter Page, I was assuming that the information was correct,” Lang said.
Another potential Democratic challenger for the state House District 36, James Ryner, also filed to run even though he doesn’t live within the district’s boundaries. He, too, could be disqualified.
“If you think you’re fit to serve the public and want to represent the citizens of west Cobb, you ought to know what the district lines are,” said Ehrhart, who would be left without an opponent for reelection. “They can look at the map. It’s a simple Google search. This is not rocket
science.”
The Democratic Party of Georgia qualified Lang last week even though he doesn’t live in the district for which he is running. Democratic Party spokeswoman Ellie Schwartz said it’s the candidates’ job to know which district they live in, and the party doesn’t check addresses before qualifying a candidate.
Lang said the party checked his voter registration information to confirm he lived in the district, and because the website was outdated, he was qualified incorrectly. He has now asked the party to refund his $400 qualifying fee.
The Cobb County GOP qualified candidate Alicia Adams to run in the District 2 race, but her address falls in District 3 under the current county map. A challenge to Adams’ qualification is scheduled for Friday with the Board of Elections.